Spoken Language Research Articles

Understanding Rett Syndrome: Genetic, clinical and therapeutic perspectives - literature review

Introduction and Objective: Rett syndrome (RTT) is a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder that predominantly affects the female. The disease develops after 6 months of age causing abnormalities in the child's development. The aim of this article is to bring together the latest information and clinical, genetic and therapeutic perspectives on RTT. Review Methods: The review was based on publicly available PubMed and Google Scholar, Web of Science and Scopus databases from 2019 to 2024 using the following phrases: rett syndrome, rett syndrome treatment, rett syndrome rehabilitation, MECP2. Publications were analyzed using a non-systematic review method to create a brief synthesis of the available information. Brief Description of the State of Knowledge: Rett syndrome is characterised by a loss-of-function mutation in the MECP2 gene, which is located on the long arm of the X chromosome. The diagnosis is confirmed by clinical criteria such as complete loss of acquired targeted hand skills, spoken language, gait abnormalities and confirmation of the mutation in the MECP2 gene. Treatment focuses on multidisciplinary management of the symptoms associated with the disease and an individualised rehabilitation programme. Recent studies show positive effects of trofinetide treatment, and gene therapy, genome editing and ataluren promise to be a promising treatment for RTT. Summary: The authors highlight the need for development of early diagnosis of RTT in infants, rehabilitation focused on family-centred care (FCC) and the need for further research towards innovative treatments for Rett Syndrome.

Language capital and grade repetition: evidence from nationally-representative survey data in India

ABSTRACT This paper studies the links between discrepancies in the language spoken at home and the medium of instruction at school and grade repetition using nationally representative sample surveys in India. Our sample consists of more than 100,000 students attending educational institutions. Using a fixed effects regression model, we find that language discrepancy is negatively associated with grade repetition among boys and is not statistically significant for girls. Subgroup analyses suggest that results are driven by urban, relatively wealthier households residing in Hindi-speaking states. Implications for policies such as the recently proposed National Education Policy (NEP) are discussed.

Diversity in research on the psychology of language: A large-scale examination of sampling bias.

The human capacity for language cannot be fully understood without appreciation of its ability to adapt to startling diversity. Narrow sampling therefore undermines the psycholinguistic enterprise. Concerns regarding a lack of sample diversity in psycholinguistics are increasingly being raised, but large-scale data on the state of the field remain absent. In the current paper, we address this empirical gap by documenting sample diversity in over 5500 psycholinguistic studies published over two decades. Moreover, we consider several hitherto unexplored issues regarding diversity in (psycho)linguistics, including the impact of sample biases on knowledge uptake and the implementation of diversification strategies often proposed in the literature. We identify marked overrepresentations in the data - of English, North America, and tertiary education students - and provide new evidence of their consequences, where papers on more commonly studied languages and locations tend to be cited more. We also demonstrate that absolute diversity has increased over time, albeit insufficiently to disrupt the linguistic and geographic concentrations observed. We find that representation of Global South researchers and contexts has grown, but this growth is centered in a handful of countries (China, Israel), and Africa and Southeast Asia remain severely underrepresented. Regarding the implementation of diversification strategies, we show that online data collection has yet to contribute much to diversification, while cross-national collaboration is effective in this respect. Finally, we challenge prevalent conceptions of diversification in which "exotic" languages spoken in remote locations assume a central role by highlighting the neglected linguistic diversity of the major hubs of psycholinguistic knowledge production.

“Knowledge was clearly associated with education.” epistemic positioning in the context of informed choice: a scoping review and secondary qualitative analysis

BackgroundBeing able to measure informed choice represents a mechanism for service evaluation to monitor whether informed choice is achieved in practice. Approaches to measuring informed choice to date have been based in the biomedical hegemony. Overlooked is the effect of epistemic positioning, that is, how people are positioned as credible knowers in relation to knowledge tested as being relevant for informed choice.AimsTo identify and describe studies that have measured informed choice in the context of prenatal screening and to describe epistemic positioning of pregnant people in these studies.MethodsOnline databases to identify papers published from 2005 to 2021. The PRISMA-ScR checklist guided data collection, analysis and reporting. Secondary analysis that considered hermeneutics (e.g., knowledge that was tested, study design) and testimony (e.g., population descriptors) developed a priori.FindingsTwenty-nine studies explored the measurement of informed choice. None reported that pregnant people were involved in the design of the study. Two studies reported pregnant people had some involvement in the design of the measurement. Knowledge tested for informed choice included technical aspects of screening, conditions screened and mathematical concepts. Twenty-seven studies attributed informed choice to population descriptors (e.g., race/ethnicity, age, education). Population descriptors were reified as characteristics of epistemic credibility for informed choice obtained. For example, when compared to a high school qualification, a tertiary qualification was a statistically significant characteristic of informed choice. When compared by race, white people were found to be significantly more likely to make an informed choice. Additional demographic descriptors such as age, language spoken, faith and previous pregnancies were used to further explain differences for informed choice obtained. Explanations about underlying assumptions of population descriptors were infrequent.ConclusionUsing population descriptors in the biomedical hegemony as explanatory variables for informed choice can position (groups of) people as more, or less, epistemically credible. Such positioning could perpetuate epistemic injustices in practice leading to inequitable access to healthcare. To better uphold (pregnant) people as credible knowers population descriptors should instead be contextual (and contextualising) variables. For example, as indicators of social privilege. Further, making room for ways of knowing that go beyond the biomedical hegemony requires the development of epistemically just ‘measures’ through intentional, inclusive design.

An Interview with Cristina Martins

The Mirandese language is a Romance language and form of Astur-Leonese that is spoken in a border region of rural northeastern Portugal. Mirandese owes its existence to the southward expansion of the medieval kingdoms of Asturias and Leon into territory later incorporated into the Portuguese kingdom. For most of its history Mirandese has been an essentially oral language, though in recent decades this has changed, and in 1999 an Orthographic Convention for the Mirandese Language was published. That same year, the Portuguese parliament recognized the existence of Mirandese and the linguistic rights of the Mirandese community. Despite these advances, spoken Mirandese is in decline, and it currently has an estimated 3,500 active speakers. This decline is due to factors including language stigmatization, particularly during the latter half of the twentieth century, improved transportation links between the northeast and the rest of Portugal, and rural-to-urban migration. Mirandese may go extinct as a spoken language by the mid-twenty-first century. On September 8, 2023, Cristina Martins (Associate Professor, Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Faculty of Letters, Arts and Humanities, University of Coimbra) gave a keynote address, “Mirandese, quo vadis?” at the 44th Annual Conference of the Association for Contemporary Iberian Studies, at the University of Porto. Professor Martins provided an overview of the history, present, and possible futures of Mirandese. She also described her linguistic research on and personal relationship with the language. I invited her to participate in this interview, conducted by email, to introduce Mirandese to a primarily North American academic audience, and to expand on the themes of her address.

First acquiring articles in a second language: A new approach to the study of language and social cognition

Pragmatic phenomena are characterized by extreme variability, which makes it difficult to draw sound generalizations about the role of social cognition in pragmatic language by and large. I introduce cultural evolutionary pragmatics as a new framework for the study of the interdependence between language and social cognition, and point at the study of common-ground management across languages and ages as a way to test the reliance of pragmatic language on social cognition. I illustrate this new research line with three experiments on article use by second language speakers, whose mother tongue lacks articles. These L2 speakers are known to find article use challenging and it is often argued that their difficulties stem from articles being pragmatically redundant. Contrary to this view, the results of this exploratory study support the view that proficient article use requires automatizing basic socio-cognitive processes, offering a window into the interdependence between language and social cognition.

Relationships between hearing, auditory processing, and communication in children diagnosed with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the relationships between auditory processing, speech discrimination, and listening and communication abilities in children diagnosed with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) compared to those with normal hearing. This was a case-control study involving seventeen participants with a diagnosis of ANSD who used spoken language as their primary mode of communication and wore hearing aids or were unaided and 21 normally hearing controls. All underwent a battery of behavioural measures of hearing, speech perception and auditory processing skills. Their parents filled in a series of questionnaires to evaluate listening and communication abilities. Group differences were evaluated, and hierarchical linear regression was carried out to assess the extent to which auditory measures predicted parent report scores. Slow-rate amplitude modulation detection (AMD) was an important predictor of listening and communication abilities over and above the pure-tone audiogram in children diagnosed with ANSD. There was a significant relationship between the pure-tone audiogram and the ability to discriminate speech in quiet but not in noise. Children in the ANSD group had more difficulty completing tests of auditory processing ability or performed significantly more poorly than the control group for most tasks. This study confirms that outcomes for children diagnosed with ANSD are heterogeneous, and provides new information about real world listening and communication abilities. These findings will be useful for clinicians counselling families of newly diagnosed infants and providing management for children with a diagnosis of ANSD.

Metaphorical Conceptualization of Sadness in Wolaita

This study investigates the metaphorical conceptualization of sadness in Wolaita, a language spoken by over 1.6 million people in Ethiopia, from a cognitive-linguistic perspective. Grounded in Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), the research explores how the Wolaita people express sadness through linguistic metaphors and compares these with findings from well-studied languages such as English, Amharic, and Agnwa. The study aims to identify linguistic metaphors for sadness in Wolaita, describe their universal and culturally specific bases, and contribute to the debate on the universality versus culture-specificity of emotion conceptualization. Using qualitative methods, including data elicitation, introspection, and analysis of written and spoken texts, the study examines metaphorical expressions of sadness in Wolaita. Data sources include Wolaita-language textbooks, a bilingual dictionary, idioms, audio-visual materials, and native-speaker intuitions. The analysis identifies conceptual mappings between source domains (e.g., pain, fluid, journey) and the target domain of sadness. The findings reveal that sadness in Wolaita is conceptualized through metaphors such as “sadness is pain,” “sadness is fluid,” “sadness is down,” “sadness is enemy,” “sadness is burden,” “sadness is journey,” “sadness is food,” and “sadness is gift.” These metaphors reflect the Wolaita people’s perception of sadness as an undesirable emotion, with cultural peculiarities such as the use of spoiled foods and impure fluids to represent its intensity. The study demonstrates that although sadness is universal at a basic level, its complex conceptualizations exhibit cultural specificity. This research contributes to cognitive linguistics and emotion studies by providing empirical evidence from an understudied language. It highlights the interconnection between universal human experiences and culturally shaped metaphors, enriching our understanding of the universality versus culture-specificity debate and underscoring the importance of linguistic diversity in emotion research.

Health and Safety Training for Immigrant Dairy Workers in the Upper Midwest.

This project implemented Seguridad en las Lecherías, an award-winning, bilingual (Spanish and English), 5-module curriculum approved by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The intervention aimed to increase safety knowledge among immigrant dairy workers, encourage a safety culture, and identify challenges faced by the dairy farming community in Minnesota and South Dakota. A total of 360 Hispanic immigrant workers from 19 participating dairies were trained. Pre- and post-assessments revealed a statistically significant increase in knowledge after each training. Producers and managers provided positive feedback noting improved awareness of safety and positive behavior changes to reduce farm incidents. A flexible approach to implementation was essential to the intervention's success, including synchronizing training with workers' shifts. Overall, this application of the Seguridad en las Lecherías curriculum suggests that comprehensive, culturally responsive safety training delivered in the language spoken by workers can have a positive impact on workers' safety knowledge, practices, and behavior on dairy farms. Continued efforts to prioritize and reinforce worker safety are vital to the sustainability and well-being of the dairy farming community in the region and beyond.

“Talking heads” in Portuguese sign and spoken languages

“Talking heads” in Portuguese sign and spoken languages

Personality defines: The Hausas as addressed by speakers of different languages

Personality defines: The Hausas as addressed by speakers of different languages

Psychological Barriers Contributing to Students’ Poor English Language Speaking Skills

The study aimed to investigate psychological barriers contributing to students’ poor English language speaking skills at the College of Education and Behavioural Sciences, Haramaya University, Eastern Etiopia. A descriptive survey research design was employed through a stratified random sampling technique to collect primary data from participants (n = 210) by using a questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the collected data. The finding indicated that 75% of the participants agreed upon psychological barriers contributing to students’ poor English language speaking skills in Ethiopian Higher Learning Institutions in general and Haramaya University in particular. Students’ lack of confidence in English language speaking skills, lack of motivation to speak the English language, fear of mistakes while speaking in English in front of many eyes, shyness, and stage anxiety (psychological barriers) contributed about 88% to students’ poor English language speaking skills. There was a statistically significant mean difference between female and male respondents in English language speaking during their senior essay presentation, open defense, and advisory activities. To conclude, fear of mistakes, stage anxiety, shyness, lack of self-confidence, and lack of motivation were the five psychological barriers contributing to students’ poor English language speaking skills.

Comparison of Canadian urban forest perceptions indicates variations in beliefs and trust across geographic settings

ABSTRACT Urban forests are characterized by relationships between people and trees, where urban trees provide benefits to people and people make decisions impacting trees. People’s perceptions of urban forests are related to the cognitive processes that underpin benefits received from trees, while also influencing support for or against trees and their management. A growing literature has considered urban forest perceptions, but most studies are limited to a single geographic area and focus on socio-economic influences, with less consideration of location and cultural influences. This study explores the relationship between where people live, the language they speak, and multiple perception responses associated with urban forests (i.e. values, beliefs, trust, satisfaction) to better understand commonalities and differences across distinct geographic settings and populations. We conducted an online survey about urban forest perceptions in three Canadian urban regions, allowing us to explore perceptions between regions, locations on an urban gradient and language spoken. We found geographic and language differences primary for beliefs held about urban trees and trust in municipal government’s decision-making about those trees, while values and satisfaction with trees and their management were more stable across geographic settings and language spoken. Our findings suggest that some perceptions vary between populations. Additionally, our findings reinforce the need for urban forest managers to understand the specific perceptions held by different populations, rather than assume universality of perception, to ensure specific and differential urban forest management objectives are in place to supports local people and ecological elements.

Exploring the Communication Experiences of Hearing-Impaired College Students

Objectives: The studies on hearing-impaired college students in Korea tend to focus on sign language and deaf culture, however studies exploring the communication experiences or communication strategies of students who communicate using spoken language are limited. Therefore, this study aimed to deeply understand their communication experiences and obtain practical information for improving communication services by exploring the meaning and essence of the communication experiences of hearing-impaired college students who use spoken language. Methods: Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with six hearing-impaired college students, and data was organized and analyzed using the Colaizzi phenomenological methodology. The statements extracted during the categorization process were continuously compared, and the analysis and interpretation were repeated, following a cyclical flow of qualitative research. Results: 13 subthemes and 4 themes were categorized into ‘Limitations in communication accessibility’, ‘Positive communication experiences’, ‘Communication characteristics: Loose connection’, and ‘Communication recovery strategies’. And the final category was ‘Communication experiences: Continuation of ceaseless efforts’. Conclusion: The hearing-impaired college students who participated in this study experienced limitations in environmental and physical communication accessibility. Nevertheless, it was confirmed that they positively overcame the communication difficulties caused by hearing impairment through continuous efforts and social communication supports. Based on the results of this study, important factors to consider for smooth communication of hearing-impaired college students and future services were discussed.

Comparative analysis on communication back-channels between mainland chinese and malay

Significant research has been conducted on the similarities and differences in back-channel communication between different languages, such as Japanese and English. Recently, interest has grown in examining the back-channel communication between speakers of different target languages. This study investigates the use of back channels between mainland Chinese and Malay speakers. This study aims to identify and compare the use of these back channels to improve our understanding of intercultural communication dynamics. Ten Malay and ten Chinese female students from higher education institutions in Malaysia participated in this study. Conversations were recorded and analysed. Both similarities and differences were identified in the use of verbal and non-verbal back channels between Chinese and Malay speakers. The study highlighted specific cultural nuances that affect back-channel communication, which can influence how cues are interpreted and responded to in intercultural settings. Insights gained can help reduce misunderstandings and improve communication efficacy between speakers of these languages. The findings provide valuable insights into intercultural communication dynamics and contribute to the field of language teaching by integrating cultural nuances into foreign language curricula. This approach can enhance learners' communication competence by making them more aware of culturally specific back-channel cues.

The composite model of ‘speak-write’ for success in EFL writing classroom: a study on chinese university freshmen

Written language emerges from spoken language and is a refined form of it. Certain oral activities can prepare for corresponding written expression. Based on this principle, this study carried out an action research to investigate the effectiveness of a composite model of ‘Speak-Write’ in EFL writing instruction for Chinese university freshmen. The study addressed the challenges faced by these students in developing fluency, confidence, and coherence in their writing. The model integrates speaking activities into the writing process, aiming to enhance vocabulary, fluency, and idea generation. The author has consistently used this model throughout the freshman year. Data analysis, including pre- and post-tests, writing sample analysis, teacher observations, and student surveys, revealed significant improvements in students’ writing proficiency, confidence, and engagement. Students demonstrated increased fluency, vocabulary use, and grammatical accuracy in their writing, alongside enhanced participation and positive attitudes towards writing. The ‘Speak-Write’ composite model provides a valuable framework for EFL teachers working with Chinese university freshmen. The findings suggest that integrating speaking activities into EFL writing instruction can effectively address the specific needs and challenges of Chinese university freshmen, fostering a more engaging and effective learning environment, and promoting both language acquisition and confidence in written communication. This study has implication for university EFL learners and EFL writing teachers.

Communication systems with the meaning of affirmation and negation in the Tatar language

The article deals with one of the most controversial problems of Turkology, the problem of indivisible syntax, which manifests itself at the level of a simple and complex sentence. The relevance of the research is due to the fact that the linguistic analysis of the structure and semantics of communication makes it possible to substantiate the status of indivisible sentences in the syntactic system of the Tatar language and to identify the structural-semantic, grammatical, pragmatic aspects of indivisible sentences. The paper analyzes emotional and evaluative communicemes with affirmative and negative semantics in the Tatar language. The research material is semantic and emotionally expressive meanings of communicemes. The aim of the work is to identify and describe the most commonly used communicemes with affirmative and negative semantics in the Tatar language. The object of the study is the communicemes from the works of Tatar fiction, obtained by the continuous sampling method. The corpus of examples is represented by speech units of an indivisible structure, which we refer to the class of communicemes, that is, non-predicative units of syntax. The work revealed 15 affirmative and 10 negative communicemes in various lexical and grammatical variations. It has been established that communicemes with positive and negative semantics arise spontaneously in speech and are an expressive reaction of the speaker, accompanied by the intonation of delight, joy, surprise, anger, threats, etc. These syntactic units, being set phrases, express national specifics, therefore they are difficult to perceive for native speakers of other languages.

Tone-vowel interaction and co-articulation in Cantonese speakers with apraxia of speech and co-existing aphasia: a preliminary study

ABSTRACT Background Speakers with apraxia of speech (AOS) usually produce segmental and prosodic errors that influence their speech intelligibility. Literature on AOS in tonal language speakers is sparse compared to that in non-tonal language. Also, the existing research often made static, isolated analyses, leaving the production and co-articulation between segments and suprasegmental entities in tonal languages under-investigated. Aims This preliminary study aims to fulfill the aforementioned research gaps by investigating vowel-tone interaction and tonal and vocalic co-articulation in Cantonese post-stroke speakers with AOS. Methods Five Cantonese adults with AOS post-stroke, five adults without AOS post-stroke, and five healthy controls performed the Tone Sequencing Task (TST), a task adapted from oral diadochokinetic tasks that required five rapid repetitions of 3-syllable items formed by three different Cantonese vowels and three different Cantonese tones. The quality of vowels was indexed by midpoint formant values and euclidean distances between the vowels. Within-speaker variation was assessed by coefficients of variance. Co-articulation was indexed by onset and offset formant or f0 values. The effects of the participant groups, the positions of tone-syllable in the TST stimuli, and the tones carried by vowels/carrying vowels were evaluated with linear mixed effect models. Results Cantonese-speaking adults with AOS had difficulty in producing distinctive vowels and tones. They also showed large within-speaker variation in vowel production but reduced tone contrast, especially at the final positions. The disrupted anticipatory co-articulation between vowels as well as between tones further suggested that the speakers with AOS could not sequence segments and suprasegments simultaneously.

Parental Compliance with Preschool Vision Screening Test

Objective: To assess the barriers to parental compliance with preschool vision screening tests and the recommended follow-up eye care. Methods: This prospective study included children aged 3–6 years attending 46 preschools. Parents were asked for consent for their children to participate in a vision screening test. Parents whose child did not participate due to lack of parental consent and parents whose child failed the screening test were contacted by telephone and given a standardized questionnaire to identify potential barriers to compliance. Results: A total of 1511 children (mean age 4.76 years ± 0.76, 51.3% boys) were eligible for vision screening. Consent was given by the parents of 1295 children (85.7%). Lack of consent in children who had never been examined by an ophthalmologist was primarily due to unawareness of the screening test or other logistical reasons (117 cases, 92.1%). Of the children screened, 140 (11.1%) failed the test and 80.0% of their parents adhered to the recommended follow-up eye care. Parents who followed the screening vision test recommendations were more likely to be native language speakers (82.8% vs. 58.8% mothers and 88.9% vs. 60.0% fathers; p = 0.049 and 0.015, respectively). There was a higher chance of at least one parent being native-born if recommendations were followed (90.6% vs. 58.8%, p = 0.004). All other factors tested were insignificant. Conclusions: Parental consent and cooperation with vision screening test and its recommendations were high. Migrant families are more likely to face challenges in following vision screening test recommendations, underscoring the need for tailored approaches for specific populations.

Unknown Pages of English-Georgian Lexicography (George Ellis and his Comparative Lexicon of Kartvelian Languages)

In 1788 a book was published by the British author George Ellis in London under the title Memoir of a Map of the Countries Comprehended Between the Black Sea, and the Caspian, with an Account of the Caucasian Nations and Vocabularies of their Languages. The book describes the history, culture, and religion of the peoples of the Caucasus, and provides information about the languages ​​spoken in the Caucasus region. While discussing the countries of the Caucasus, a certain space is dedicated to Georgia with geographic, political and ethnographic information, which is followed by a small comparative lexicon of the Kartvelian languages. It is noteworthy that the author is interested not only in the Georgian language, but also in the other Kartvelian languages, and the book contains material of Megrelian and Svan ​​along with Georgian. It can be said that the lexicographic material included in this book is the first example of describing the material of Kartvelian languages for English readers. Our article provides short information about the book itself, and discusses George Ellis's Comparative Lexicon of Kartvelian Languages ​​and its sources. Special attention is paid to the transliteration rules of Kartvelian words into English, which are mainly based on the rules of Modern English spelling. G. Ellis’ Comparative Lexicon of the Kartvelian Languages is important for the study of early stages in the history of English-Georgian lexicography; it is also interesting in the context of linguistic affinity, as the Kartvelian languages are presented in it exactly from this point of view.