Contact Situations Research Articles

Language contact across ethnic boundaries

Abstract Throughout antiquity, the Chittagong Hill Tract was a sparsely populated region. This population increased with the immigration of different speech communities, thus changing its linguistic mosaic, and creating conditions for language contact between vernacular Bangla and between its ancestral Indo-Aryan variety Pali, the superstrate, and the Tibeto-Burman variety, the substratum. In the changing language contact situation, language contact involved various phenomena, such as language maintenance, the creation of new contact languages, i.e. pidgins and creoles as well as the acquisition and integration into a dominant L2. Through this language contact, the processes of language contact have had particular linguistic, social, and political outcomes that have shaped the region. The linguistic outcomes include lexical borrowing, calquing, and structural convergence, as well as the creation of a new contact language combining both the Indo-Aryan vernacular and Tibeto-Burman vernacular. This paper discusses these outcomes, and describes that changes in the social and political makeup of the region have ultimately led to language change. The study argues that linguistic change appears at present in several ways: The lexical makeup, phraseology and syntactic structure of Indo-Aryan varieties spoken by the Tibeto-Burman speech communities; pidgins including Chakma and Tanchangya which have emerged from contact between the Indo-Aryan variety and the Arakanese vernacular; a Tibeto-Burman pidgin which has emerged from contact between the superstrata Marma and the substrates Chak, Khumi, and Kheyang, which are spoken by the Marma, Chak, Khumi, and Kheyang ethnicities. Ultimately, the study presents that these social and linguistic outcomes have manifested themselves in the form of bilingualism and so code-mixing, and where the political outcomes of language contact have forged the political makeup of the Chittagong Hill Tract to bring the region to become one part of the larger political superstructure of Bangladesh.

Perception and Production of Sentence Types by Inuktitut-English Bilinguals

We explore the perception and production of English statements, absolute yes-no questions, and declarative questions by Inuktitut-English sequential bilinguals. Inuktitut does not mark stress, and intonation is used as a cue for phrasing, while statements and questions are morphologically marked by a suffix added to the verbal root. Conversely, English absolute questions are both prosodically and syntactically marked, whereas the difference between statements and declarative questions is prosodic. To determine the degree of crosslinguistic influence (CLI) and whether CLI is more prevalent in tasks that require access to contextual information, bilinguals and controls performed three perception and two production tasks, with varying degrees of context. Results showed that bilinguals did not differ from controls in their perception of low-pass filtered utterances but diverged in contextualized tasks. In production, bilinguals, as opposed to controls, displayed a reduced use of pitch in the first pitch accent. In a discourse-completion task, they also diverged from controls in the number of non-target-like realizations, particularly in declarative question contexts. These findings demonstrate patterns of prosodic and morphosyntactic CLI and highlight the importance of incorporating contextual information in prosodic studies. Moreover, we show that the absence of tonal variations can be transferred in a stable language contact situation. Finally, the results indicate that comprehension may be hindered for this group of bilinguals when sentence type is not redundantly marked.

Contact Characteristics at Interface in Three-Body Contact Conditions with Rough Surfaces and Foreign Particles

Nanoparticles as lubricant additives under a certain average diameter and concentration may reduce wear, friction and scuffing damage. However, atmospheric dust particles affect not only human health but also the efficiency of components, and even cause component failures. Therefore, the contact characteristics at interfaces with foreign particles require careful investigation. In this work, a 3-body microcontact mechanics concept is used to analyze the effects of wear debris and foreign particles on real contact area, contact mode, asperity deformation type and separation at interface. The results show that the relationship profile between dimensionless real contact area (At*) and dimensionless normal contact load (Ft*) is wedge-shaped in a 3-body contact interface. Using surface-to-surface 2-body contact area as upper bound and surface-to-particle 3-body contact as lower bound, the 3-body hybrid contact situation is in between upper and lower bounds. As the dimensionless normal contact load increases, At* increases gradually as well. The order of contact mode is p-s contact, hybrid contact and then s-s contact. If the 3-body contact interface is in hybrid contact mode, the decrease in the hardness and average third body diameter will cause the At* to increase significantly at the same Ft*. Conversely, the separation and real contact area ratio of plastic deformation decrease gradually. The turning point of contact area (TPCA) occurs when the contact mode is within hybrid contact mode and the ratio of average third body diameter to the composite equivalent surface RMS roughness is about 50–70% for foreign particles and wear debris. When the Ft* is slightly larger than Ftpca*, the third body and surface share the total interface load approximately equally which will help reduce the real contact pressure and plastic contact area to improve surface performance.

Fundamental frequency range in the bilingual repertoire of traditional and new Welsh speakers

Aims: This research aims to examine cross-linguistic interaction and intra-linguistic variation in the Welsh and English of bilingual speakers in two areas of north Wales. Specifically, I present an analysis of fundamental frequency range (FFR) and examine both cross-linguistic and intra-linguistic differences in speech production between bilinguals from Welsh-speaking and English-speaking homes. Design: Data were collected from Welsh–English bilinguals aged 16–18 in the areas surrounding the Welsh-dominant town of Caernarfon (Gwynedd) and the English-dominant town of Mold (Flintshire). The sample was equally stratified by speaker gender and home language. Data: The data were elicited from a reading passage task and were analysed acoustically. Measures of level and span were taken. Data were analysed using conditional inference trees and random forests. Findings: The results of the analysis of FFR in Caernarfon and Mold revealed no significant differences between English and Welsh. In Mold, gender was the only significant predictor of FFR across all measures. In Caernarfon, home-language differences in level were found in female speakers’ data only, and gender differences in span were found in the speech of those from English-speaking homes. Originality: The study contributes to previous studies of traditional and new speakers in minority-language contexts by examining both languages in the speakers’ repertoires. Specifically, it is the first study to examine the regional and home-language variation in FFR of bilingual speakers. Implications: The results highlight (1) the importance of community-specific patterns in minority-language contexts and (2) the way in which linguistic background might interact with other social factors in situations of long-term language contact. The results imply that a more holistic approach to examinations of variation in such contexts will be fruitful.

Assessing the fast non-Hertzian methods for wheel-rail rolling contact integrated in the vehicle dynamics simulation

An accurate and high-efficiency contact model is essential for vehicle-track dynamic simulation and wear prediction. The paper attempts to assess the influence of different contact models on the offline and online simulation, as well as wear depth distribution. Taking CONTACT as the reference model, the computational accuracies of contact model combinations (i.e. Hertz + FASTSIM, Kik–Piotrowski (KP) + FASTSIM, modified Kik–Piotrowski (MKP) + FASTSIM and MKP + FaStrip) are evaluated. Typical wheel-rail contact cases and two dynamic simulation cases (track irregularity and curve track) have been studied. Results show that MKP + FaStrip achieves the best computational accuracy in calculating the typical wheel-rail contact situation, besides, the yaw angle has a significant influence on the contact patch shape and pressure distribution, especially when the wheel flange contacts with a rail corner. With regard to the vehicle passing the track with the lateral irregularity, both KP + FASTSIM and MKP + FaStrip models can achieve relatively good agreement on dynamic results and wear prediction with CONTACT. In terms of the curve track, MKP + FaStrip has better accuracy on dynamic results and wear due to a larger yaw angle.

Elucidation of frictional properties between rubber and flooring using a laser microscope with wide field of view

We investigate the measurement of real contact area, denoted by Ar, between various floor materials and rubber. Observation of Ar plays an important role for better understanding of frictional force. The Ar between them, however, has yet to be observed over regions wider than what an optical microscope can cover. Current optical microscopy techniques are limited by the measurement time required to observe the whole apparent contact area. Further, it is difficult to reproduce actual contact situations between the rubber and the floor materials because at least one of the contacting specimens must be transparent. Usually, glass plates much harder than rubber are used as counter specimens. In this study, we observed the Ar between a transparent silicone rubber and the various floor materials by using a laser microscope with a wide field of view, allowing us to observe the whole apparent contact area of 9 mm × 7 mm for a very short time. By using transparent rubber, we were able to reproduce the actual contact situations of the rubber-floor specimens, which is impossible with glass plates. The measurement of Ar when the apparent contact area was too small suffered from large fluctuations in measurement values due to waviness of the floor specimen. We investigated the apparent contact area required to accurately understand the relationship between frictional force and Ar and clarified the influence of waviness of the floor materials on the distribution of Ar.

Phylogeny of the Turkic Languages Inferred from Basic Vocabulary: Limitations of the Lexicostatistical Methods in an Intensive Contact Situation

Abstract This article provides an attempt to revise the phylogenetic structure of the Turkic family using a computational lexicostatistical approach. The methodological framework of the present research is characterized by the following features: (1) wordlists with strictly controlled semantics; (2) step-by-step reconstruction using Swadesh wordlists for proto-languages; (3) three stages of post-processing of the input data (analysis of root cognacy, elimination of derivational drift, and optimization of homoplasy); (4) application of several computational algorithms (Starling neighbor-joining, Bayesian MCMC, and maximum parsimony). The analysis provided confirms the status of Chuvash as the first outlier and suggests a subsequent multifurcation of Proto-Nuclear-Turkic into eight branches. The Siberian Turkic group is a purely areal unity, that is, Yakut-Dolgan, Tofa-Tuvinian, Khakas-Mrassu, Sarygh Yugur and Altai do not form a clade. Altai is grouped together with the Kipchak languages as a separate taxon; it does not show a particularly close relationship with Kirghiz, which belongs to another Kipchak subgroup. Karluk is a low-level taxon inside the Kipchak clade.

A Siloxene/Ecoflex Nanocomposite‐Based Triboelectric Nanogenerator with Enhanced Charge Retention by MoS2/LIG for Self‐Powered Touchless Sensor Applications (Adv. Funct. Mater. 27/2022)

Triboelectric Nanogenerators In article number 2113005, Jae Y. Park and co-workers develop a Siloxene/Ecoflex based contactless triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) to reduce the possible contact situations and improve the robustness and functionality of the TENG. The MoS2/LIG-based charge trapping interlayer exhibits excellent charge trapping property and aids in the realization of the TENG as a self-powered sensor for touchless interactions.

아카디아 프랑스어에 대한 사회언어학적 연구 : ‘시아크(chiac)’를 중심으로

This paper is a first attempt to understand “Chiac” and its goal is to determine the degree of linguistic interference between French and English in a language contact situation where French is the minority language. To this end, we analyzed about 5,000 dialogues in France Daigle’s novel <Pour sûr> and revealed the following two facts through a series of discussions centered on “borrowing scales” and “integration.” First, through corpus analysis, we confirmed that the lexical categories most sensitive to borrowing are nouns, followed by verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in the order of how greatly they are influenced by English. Conjunctions, interjections, prepositions, and pronouns were also borrowed from English but the frequency of their borrowing was less high than those of the higher-ranking lexical categories. Second, in the case of adjectives, conjunctions, and verbs, even if they were borrowed from English, they were often assimilated into the unique grammatical rules of French, which differed from English. In the case of adjectives and verbs, inflections according to gender, number, and derivation according to person appeared; in the case of conjunctions, there was no morphological change but they did not have the power to ruin the grammatical structure of French. From the above two facts, we found that in the case of Chiac, factors such as function of words in a sentence, morphosyntactic differences, and complexity of grammar can affect the degree of language interference. This study hopes to resolve the serious imbalance in domestic studies and promote a broader understanding of French in North America.

Aesthetics in Styles and Variation: A Fresh Flavor

Speaker attitudes, ascriptions, qualia, and other forms of overt aesthetic commentary function as constraints on language and culture and are central to sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology. Despite the importance of aesthetics, sociolinguists studying variation and change have largely shied away from the topic. This review suggests that covert aesthetic evaluations play a role in variation and change. We draw on non-Western approaches to aesthetics ( rasa and “everyday aesthetics”) that emphasize the interplay between receiver and the aesthetic stimulus. We present two case studies. One, from fieldwork on Nkep (an Oceanic language spoken in Vanuatu), draws attention to the way aesthetic factors seem to slow language change. The other, from fieldwork on Spanish in California, shows how aesthetic evaluations of linguistic features facilitate the transfer of variation in a situation of language contact.

Tribological performance of porous silicon hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces

Many studies have focused on surface texturing to control friction and wear in the past few decades. The underlying reasons for surface texturing effects under various contact situations remain a source of debate. The connection between surface roughness and friction between two sliding surfaces is more complicated than it looks at first glance. In this paper, samples of a highly resistive p-type silicon were anodized to get various pore sizes ranging from 0.01 up to 3.2 microns using two electrolyte solutions and varying the electric current. The wetting properties were determined via contact angle analysis, while pore size and shape measurements were performed by scanning electron microscopy. The tribological tests were performed on a tribometer (UMT, Bruker) in a reciprocating mode for 15 min with a 3N load, 5 Hz, and a 10 mm diameter steel ball. Wear surfaces were analyzed by optical microscopy and non-contact 3D profilometry. The results showed that low electric currents generate mesoporous silicon surfaces with low friction. Higher currents generate macroporous silicon surfaces, modifying the surface roughness and wetting properties from hydrophilic to hydrophobic and increasing friction. The pore size is directly related to the wear volume and scar diameter measured from optical micrographs and profilometry 3D. The larger the pore size and nanostructured peaks, the greater the contact angle, friction, and wear.

Sequential models of intergroup contact and social categorization: An experimental field test of integrated models

Research has proposed different models of how contact situations should be structured to maximize contact effects, focusing in particular on the role of categorization during contact. We conducted two experimental field interventions ( Ns = 247 and 247) to test models that integrate different levels of categorization. Each of the tested models was contrasted against a no-intervention control condition. In both studies, we assessed effects shortly after the intervention (1 week later; i.e., posttest) and then after approximately 6 months (i.e., follow-up). In the first study, results generally supported the model where categorization precedes decategorization, showing effects on major dependent measures highlighted in research on intergroup contact: quantity and quality of contact, cross-group friendships, intergroup anxiety (marginal effect at follow-up), outgroup attitudes (only at follow-up). Evidence for follow-up effects for this model was, however, weaker in Study 2, where the delayed effects of the intervention emerged only indirectly, via changes in contact quality, outgroup attitudes, and approach behavioral intentions at posttest. Comparisons of the other two models (decategorization then categorization; and simultaneous categorization and decategorization) with the control condition (only in Study 1) provided weaker and inconsistent results.

Dissociation of early and late face-related processes in autism spectrum disorder and Williams syndrome

BackgroundWilliams syndrome (WS) and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental conditions associated with atypical but opposite face-to-face interactions patterns: WS patients overly stare at others, ASD individuals escape eye contact. Whether these behaviors result from dissociable visual processes within the occipito-temporal pathways is unknown.Using high-density electroencephalography, multivariate signal processing algorithms and a protocol designed to identify and extract evoked activities sensitive to facial cues, we investigated how WS (N = 14), ASD (N = 14) and neurotypical subjects (N = 14) decode the information content of a face stimulus.ResultsWe found two neural components in neurotypical participants, both strongest when the eye region was projected onto the subject's fovea, simulating a direct eye contact situation, and weakest over more distant regions, reaching a minimum when the focused region was outside the stimulus face. The first component peaks at 170 ms, an early signal known to be implicated in low-level face features. The second is identified later, 260 ms post-stimulus onset and is implicated in decoding salient face social cues.Remarkably, both components were found distinctly impaired and preserved in WS and ASD. In WS, we could weakly decode the 170 ms signal based on our regressor relative to facial features, probably due to their relatively poor ability to process faces’ morphology, while the late 260 ms component was highly significant. The reverse pattern was observed in ASD participants who showed neurotypical like early 170 ms evoked activity but impaired late evoked 260 ms signal.ConclusionsOur study reveals a dissociation between WS and ASD patients and points at different neural origins for their social impairments.

Diglosia y contacto lingüístico en Limón, Costa Rica

This paper provides a description of the language contact situation in Limón, Costa Rica. It presents a theoretical account regarding language contact in this area and discusses why this linguistic situation leads to challenges for the definition of diglossia and bilingualism that have traditionally been used to describe it. The analysis concludes with support for the thesis that two varieties of English interact with a variety of Spanish in the Costa Rican area of Limón and result in a new variety of Spanish due to this language contact. This study highlights the need to explore these varieties of Spanish to fully understand this contact situation.&#x0D;

Simplifying grammatical gender in inflectional languages: Odessa Russian and beyond

SummaryThis work aims to contribute to the analysis of the morphosyntactic processes of gender assignment and gender agreement in inflectional languages, through the study of gender variation in Russian. We will focus on the data of a special contact variety, Odessa Russian (OdR), and compare it to standard, dialectal, child Russian, as well as other contact varieties of Russian. OdR is a linguistic variety slightly decomplexified by non-native acquisition, which arises from a special language contact situation; it originated as alingua franca, and was passed on later to successive generations of speakers as a native variety. Some of the most striking features of OdR are its divergences in gender assignment and agreement with respect to Standard Russian. The specific processes analysed in this paper are classified in three groups: (i) loss of a gender value (neuter gender), by virtue if a strategy of gender (re)assignment; (ii) transfer or ‘migration’ of gender according to the phonological shape of the words involved (masculine into feminine and feminine into masculine); interestingly, formal rules in this group of processes can sometimes prevail over semantic rules (i. e. over natural gender); and (iii) disruptions of gender agreement (associated with disruption of grammatical case), which can be interpreted as the simplification of the corresponding syntactic tree by eliminating uninterpretable gender features in the language. We will show that these processes go beyond mere substrata effects, and proceed according to more general processes that partially take place also in other (contact and non-contact) varieties of Russian. More specifically: (i) occasional changes in the assignment and agreement of gender are reminiscent of dialectal Russian, but are more widespread in OdR (closer to child language) than in those varieties; (ii) even if gender in OdR was not lost as a grammatical category, some productions point to a partial loss of gender features, reminding us of pidgins and heritage languages.

How Do Dongba Glyphs Transcribe IPA? Analysis of a Note by a Ruke Dongba Priest Learning IPA

Dongba script is one of the very few pictographic writing systems still surviving in the world. The script evolved over time, and this is reflected by the correspondence between its written symbols and the related spoken language. During my fieldwork, I witnessed occasionally when Dongba glyphs have been analysed to write down IPA symbols based on Latin alphabet. This is an innovative application of Dongba pictographs, through the use of traditional scriptures and vernacular documents. This study provides insights into processes of adaptation in situations of contact between the Dongba pictographic writing system and the International Phonetic Alphabet and aims to shed light on structural issues pertaining to the phonological units of the Naxi language. According to the present research, Dongba glyphs can identify initials quite efficiently, yet they are not efficient in distinguishing rhymes and tones. At the same time, a phonemic chart written in Dongba glyphs shows to be a valuable tool to double-check the phonemic system. Moreover, some sound changes of Ruke Naxi are attested and assessed in this note.

Internet addiction: Gender-associated differences in psychological characteristics

IntroductionInternet addiction (IA) is reported to cause significant negative psychosocial consequences. The gender specificity of psychological characteristics that are potentially significant for the formation of IA remains understudied.ObjectivesTo identify gender-related differences in the psychological characteristics of people with IA.Methods100 subjects aged 16-34 years who scored 65 points or more on the Chinese Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS) were identified and divided into 2 groups by gender: group 1 (54 men) and group 2 (46 women). The individual psychological characteristics were assessed with: the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS); the Bass-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ); the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ); the Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ); a short version of the Five-factor Personality Questionnaire (TIPI-RU) and the Cloninger Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-125).ResultsWomen were significantly more likely to experience fear of situations of interpersonal contact and action in public places (p=0.027). They experienced significantly more sexual violence in childhood (p=0.032) and were more likely to have personality traits such as “reward dependence” (p=0.002), “persistence” (p = 0.046), and “self-transcendence” (p=0.002). Men demonstrated physical aggression (p=0.009), suppressed emotions (p=0.019) significantly more often than women and characterized themselves as emotionally stable (p=0.048).ConclusionsThe gender differences identified in the cohort of individuals with IA can potentially be considered specific for this contingent, although such gender relationships can be observed in other forms of addiction and in the general population. The specificity of gender differences may reflect individual psychological markers of increased vulnerability to developing IA.DisclosureThe study was financially supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research within the framework of scientific project No 18-29-22079.

Adaptability Control Towards Complex Ground Based on Fuzzy Logic for Humanoid Robots

Stability control for humanoid robots based on zero moment point (ZMP) control and impedance control are widespread. However, uncertain changes in the center of mass (CoM) height for ZMP control and specific regulation of the variable stiffness of impedance control have been challenging issues in previous studies. In this article, these two problems are solved by implementing fuzzy control-based regulations. First, the fuzzy ZMP controller, which regulates the feedback gains online based on the CoM height change and CoM tracking errors, is proposed. Second, we propose a fuzzy regulation law for variable stiffness, which is applied for uncertain contact situations and inspired by the pattern of human muscle stiffness. With these two methods, the ground adaptability for humanoid robots is enhanced. The proposed method is validated with experiments on a real robot platform, BHR-T.

Morphological Khoisan influence in the Southern African Bantu language Yeyi

AbstractLanguage contact with Khoisan languages has resulted in the adoption of click phonemes in certain southern African Bantu languages. Contact-induced changes outside the phonological domain, however, are less commonly recognized. This paper provides a first ever analysis of morphological influence from Khoisan languages in Yeyi, a Bantu language spoken in Botswana and Namibia. Firstly, Yeyi has a set of lexical verbs that take an obligatory prefixi-orra-, and both these prefixes and many of the verbs on which they occur are of Khoisan origin. Secondly, Yeyi has four verbal derivational suffixes that have been copied from Khoisan languages. The description of these contact-induced changes in Yeyi shows that contact with Khoisan languages, especially those of the Khoe family, involved extensive bilingualism. Dialectal difference in Yeyi furthermore suggests that Khoisan contact was more intense in Botswana than in Namibia. As some linguistic changes appear to derive from Khoisan languages that are not spoken in the vicinity of Yeyi, the language contact situation in which they arose was quite different from the one that occurs today.

The Effectiveness of Intercultural Contact in Foreign Language Learning Anxiety of Students Majoring in Less-commonly Taught Languages in China

To figure out the confusion remained in the survey conducted previously, a review on the relationship between intercultural contact and foreign language learning anxiety had been done. Conclusion can be drawn like that qualitative study of what types of intercultural contact students have and how they view the role of contact situation influencing their foreign language learning anxiety is appropriately prior to the quantitative study of to what extent the language contact can affect students’ foreign language learning anxiety and how it affects. Furthermore, the design of research should be based on multidimensional perspectives like quantitative, qualitative and inter-group aspects of intercultural contact and direct type or indirect type of intercultural contact.