Socio-communicative Functions Research Articles

КНИЖКОВА ПРЕСА «ДРУГ ЧИТАЧА»: ВІД ГАЗЕТИ РАДЯНСЬКОГО ВЗІРЦЯ ДО СУЧАСНОГО МЕРЕЖЕВОГО РЕСУРСУ

<p><strong><em>The purpose of the study</em></strong><em> is to identify and characterize the trends in the formation of functional, genre-thematic features of the Ukrainian book press «Friend of the Reader», published at the turn of XX–XXI centuries, and its promotional potential.</em></p><p><strong><em>Research methodology</em></strong><em>. The study used a set of methods, including: historical – to determine the nature of the transformation of the press as an object of study in Ukrainian journalism, to reconstruct the Ukrainian history of the formation of the press of this type (book press); contextual – to determine the influence of socio-political, cultural, market factors on the formation of the system of thematic and rubric complexes of the newspaper «Friend of the reader»; content analysis with elements of discursive analysis – to establish the interdependence between the typological characteristics and the rubrication organization of the press, their content; to outline and interpret an array of texts of different genres and different topics, on the basis of which the main trends in the formation of the then literary and publishing process and the book market in general are considered; comparative – for the analysis of the years of the book newspaper «Friend of the reader» of different years; descriptive-analytical – to identify the factors characteristic of the journalistic way of reflecting on the defining phenomena and processes of the then book market; system – to determine the place of the analyzed magazine in the system of book periodicals, book periodicals in the system of the then Ukrainian press in general, their role in forming the foundation for modern thematically specialized media.</em></p><p><strong><em>Results. </em></strong><em>Observations and conclusions presented in the scientific publication deepen the understanding of the principles of functioning of press mass media of book topics in Ukrainian society, can serve as a theoretical basis for studying the general picture of the formation of modern Ukrainian cultural periodicals. Of particular interest is the study of the newspaper «Reader’s Friend» in the context of not a specialized press, and a magazine designed for a wide range of readers with a specific thematic focus, with a focus on cultural and educational function.</em></p><p><em>The affiliation of the newspaper «Friend of the Reader» to the book press is substantiated (grounds: specialization in complex book topics as one of the areas of cultural and educational journalism; appeal to a wide readership (non-professionals and professionals) with a strong focus on a particular type of information product (bibliophiles).</em></p><p><strong><em>Novelty.</em></strong><em> In the article within the terminological system of journalism we introduce the concept of «book press» as a set of specialized print media (press releases), the defining criterion of specialization of which is chosen thematic focus, in contrast to common in journalism interpretation of «specialized press» as a professional field. «Book» means press releases (in particular, on the example of the newspaper «Friend of the Reader»), specializing in covering a wide range of issues related to the functioning of the book in society.</em></p><p><strong><em>Practical significance</em></strong><em>. The tendencies common for the outlined array of press releases are revealed: movement towards massification, as a result – expansion of readership, transition to pop format, combination of socio-communicative functions aimed at meeting the needs of different focus groups (information, literary, cultural, educational, relaxation); the intensification of advertising and promotional functions in the conditions of formation of the Ukrainian mass media market is indicated. The results of the study can be used for further research and in the educational process in the training of future journalists, advertisers, specialists in the field of social communications.</em></p><p><strong><em>Key words:</em></strong><em> book press, press media, professional magazine, cultural journalism, readership, target audience.</em></p>

Enregistered spellings in interaction

AbstractAgainst the backdrop of the societal differentiation of literacy, the paper investigates spelling variation in digital written communication beyond the binary paradigm of standard and nonstandard. To this end, the paper proposes a formal classification of digital spelling variants and then focuses on the socio-communicative functions of these variants in usage. Theoretically grounded in the notions ofregisterandsocial indexicality, the paper discusses how spelling variants are metapragmatically ordered by social actors and deployed in text-messaging interactions in order to indicate interpretive context. To investigate these phenomena holistically, the paper furthermore presents a tripartite research framework that addresses digital writing regarding its I) structural variants, II) communicative practice, and III) reflexive awareness. Afterwards, this methodological approach is applied empirically. This is done based on a data set that includes samples of everyday literacy by 23 German adolescents: informal WhatsApp texting, on the one hand, formal school essays on the other. The exemplary analyses focus on phonostylistic spellings (e. g. elisions such as <ich hab> instead of <ich habe>) and graphostylistic spellings (e. g. graphemic substitutions such as <daß> instead of <dass>) in these WhatsApp interactions, reconstructing the metapragmatic status of standard orthography in digital writing. By combining structure-oriented, interactional, and ethnographic perspectives, the paper seeks a disciplinary dialogue by relating concepts of sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology not only to research fields of media linguistics but also to research on writing systems.

Deletion of Autism Risk Gene Shank3 Disrupts Prefrontal Connectivity.

Mutations in the synaptic scaffolding protein SHANK3 are a major cause of autism and are associated with prominent intellectual and language deficits. However, the neural mechanisms whereby SHANK3 deficiency affects higher-order socio-communicative functions remain unclear. Using high-resolution functional and structural MRI in adult male mice, here we show that loss of Shank3 (Shank3B-/-) results in disrupted local and long-range prefrontal and frontostriatal functional connectivity. We document that prefrontal hypoconnectivity is associated with reduced short-range cortical projections density, and reduced gray matter volume. Finally, we show that prefrontal disconnectivity is predictive of social communication deficits, as assessed with ultrasound vocalization recordings. Collectively, our results reveal a critical role of SHANK3 in the development of prefrontal anatomy and function, and suggest that SHANK3 deficiency may predispose to intellectual disability and socio-communicative impairments via dysregulation of higher-order cortical connectivity.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Mutations in the synaptic scaffolding protein SHANK3 are commonly associated with autism, intellectual, and language deficits. Previous research has linked SHANK3 deficiency to basal ganglia dysfunction, motor stereotypies, and social deficits. However, the neural mechanism whereby Shank3 gene mutations affects cortical functional connectivity and higher-order socio-communicative functions remain unclear. Here we show that loss of SHANK3 in mice results in largely disrupted functional connectivity and abnormal gray matter anatomy in prefrontal areas. We also show that prefrontal connectivity disruption is tightly linked to socio-communicative deficits. Our findings suggest that SHANK3 is a critical orchestrator of frontocortical function, and that disrupted connectivity of prefrontal areas may underpin socio-communicative impairments observed in SHANK3 mutation carriers.

Ready for the Homeland

The article analyzes nationalistically motivated online hate speech on selected right-wing public Facebook pages in Croatia. The rise of historical revisionism and populism paved the way for the growing presence of hate speech, with the most salient example being the resurfacing of the World War II fascist salute Za dom spremni (“Ready for the Homeland”) across different communicative situations. We account for the online dynamic of Za dom spremni as well as for the most frequent expressions of xenophobia that accompany the salute by presenting data gathered between 2012 – 2017 using Facebook Graph API. From the total of 4.5 million postings published by readers, those containing Za dom spremni and its variations were filtered and followed by the frequency and prevalence of the accompanying notions. By relying on cultural semiotics, we highlight the socio-communicative functions of hate speech on two levels. Firstly, the notion of the semiosphere helps us illustrate how hate speech is used to reproduce the idea of Croatianness as the dominant self-description. Secondly, we examine how the dominant self-description maintains the boundary between us and the other by merging diverse textual fragments and how their perseverance depends on the communicative situations they enter online.

Aberrant Cerebellar-Cerebral Functional Connectivity in Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The cerebellum, which forms widespread functional networks with many areas in the cerebral cortices and subcortical structures, is one of the brain regions most consistently reported to exhibit neuropathological features in patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, cerebellar functional connectivity (FC) studies in patients with ASD have been very sparse. Using resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) analysis, we investigated the FC of the hemispheric/vermal subregions and the dentate nucleus of the cerebellum with the cerebral regions in 36 children and adolescents [16 participants with ASD, 20 typically developing (TD) participants, age: 6–15 years]. Furthermore, an independent larger sample population (42 participants with ASD, 88 TD participants, age: 6–15 years), extracted from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) II, was included for replication. The ASD group showed significantly increased or decreased FC between “hubs” in the cerebellum and cerebral cortices, when compared with the TD group. Findings of aberrant FCs converged on the posterior hemisphere, right dentate nucleus, and posterior inferior vermis of the cerebellum. Furthermore, these aberrant FCs were found to be related to motor, executive, and socio-communicative functions in children and adolescents with ASD when we examined correlations between FC and behavioral measurements. Results from the original dataset were partially replicated in the independent larger sample population. Our findings suggest that aberrant cerebellar–cerebral FC is associated with motor, socio-communicative, and executive functions in children and adolescents with ASD. These observations improve the current knowledge regarding the neural substrates that underlie the symptoms of ASD.

What do home videos tell us about early motor and socio-communicative behaviours in children with autistic features during the second year of life — An exploratory study

BackgroundLittle is known about the first half year of life of individuals later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). There is even a complete lack of observations on the first 6months of life of individuals with transient autistic behaviours who improved in their socio-communicative functions in the pre-school age. AimTo compare early development of individuals with transient autistic behaviours and those later diagnosed with ASD. Study designExploratory study; retrospective home video analysis. Subjects18 males, videoed between birth and the age of 6months (ten individuals later diagnosed with ASD; eight individuals who lost their autistic behaviours after the age of 3 and achieved age-adequate communicative abilities, albeit often accompanied by tics and attention deficit). MethodThe detailed video analysis focused on general movements (GMs), the concurrent motor repertoire, eye contact, responsive smiling, and pre-speech vocalisations. ResultsAbnormal GMs were observed more frequently in infants later diagnosed with ASD, whereas all but one infant with transient autistic behaviours had normal GMs (p<0.05). Eye contact and responsive smiling were inconspicuous for all individuals. Cooing was not observable in six individuals across both groups. ConclusionsGMs might be one of the markers which could assist the earlier identification of ASD. We recommend implementing the GM assessment in prospective studies on ASD.

Социально-коммуникативые функции моды

In terms of the dominance of global processes fashion largely carries out communication between different social groups and cultural communities and is one of the key roles in the system of social communication, and mass media. The work identified a number of socio-communicative functions of fashion. The language of fashion nonverbal, visually oriented, largely symbolic. Expressive means are the fashion color and graphic symbols, and stylistic elements that create often ambiguous meanings and contexts. Fashion communication is presented as a complex associative links, external expressions of social personality characteristics that facilitate communication with other people and at the same time identifying features that differentiate them.

Colonial Impact on the Socio-Communicative Functions of Arabic Language in Nigeria: An Overview

Before the advent of the colonialist in Nigeria, Arabic language was used as the official language of communication and of daily intercourse. Historical records also confirmed that for about three centuries between 17th and 19th centuries Arabic documents remained the only source of information for European writers on western and central Sudan. A large number of these scholarly works were written by native West African authors in Arabic language, or in their native languages using Arabic scripts. However, the scramble for West African countries by the Europeans in the 19th century brought about the occupation of the areas by the imperialists. This led to change in socio –cultural life of the people of the regions including the Muslims, which in turn has a spillover effect on the communicative functions of Arabic language. Thus, this paper intends to trace a brief history of Arabic in Nigeria, its functions as the language of communication and its subsequent subversion by the European colonialist. Special attention is giving to the present status of Arabic language in Nigeria and the subsequent implications.

Sociocommunicative and Sensorimotor Impairments in Male P2X4-Deficient Mice

Purinergic P2X receptors are a family of ligand-gated ion channels gated by extracellular adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP). Of the seven P2X subtypes, P2X4 receptors (P2X4Rs) are richly expressed in the brain, yet their role in behavioral organization remains poorly understood. In this study, we examined the behavioral responses of P2X4R heterozygous (HZ) and knockout (KO) mice in a variety of testing paradigms designed to assess complementary aspects of sensory functions, emotional reactivity, and cognitive organization. P2X4R deficiency did not induce significant alterations of locomotor activity and anxiety-related indices in the novel open field and elevated plus-maze tests. Conversely, P2X4R KO mice displayed marked deficits in acoustic startle reflex amplitude, as well as significant sensorimotor gating impairments, as assessed by the prepulse inhibition of the startle. In addition, P2X4R KO mice displayed enhanced tactile sensitivity, as signified by a lower latency in the sticky-tape removal test. Moreover, both P2X4R HZ and KO mice showed significant reductions in social interaction and maternal separation-induced ultrasonic vocalizations in pups. Notably, brain regions of P2X4R KO mice exhibited significant brain-regional alterations in the subunit composition of glutamate ionotropic receptors. These results collectively document that P2X4-deficient mice exhibit a spectrum of phenotypic abnormalities partially akin to those observed in other murine models of autism-spectrum disorder. In conclusion, our findings highlight a putative role of P2X4Rs in the regulation of perceptual and sociocommunicative functions and point to these receptors as putative targets for disturbances associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Linguagens híbridas: uma perspectiva discursiva

Considering the multilingual/multicultural contexts and educational policies which prioritize linguistic uniformity, the aim of this paper is to propose written text reading by deaf student, focusing on his/her hybrid language of a discursive perspective. Based on language concepts as essentially dialogic (Bakhtin, 1992), discourse as social practice (Fairclough 1999, 1992), bilinguism as ability to use more than one language (Maher , 2007) and speech genres as “relatively stable types of utterances” (Bakhtin, 1992: 279), a discursive approach to language helps deaf to use their language not to be seen as wrong or bad, but perfectly suitable to that particular context of use, for instance, the dialogue of everyday life, which has as its socio-communicative functions let feelings for the teacher to be expressed.