Thematic Hierarchy Research Articles

Conceptualisation of event roles in L1 and L2 by Japanese learners of English: a cross-linguistic comparison of perspectives of event construal

Abstract Events can be perceived from different perspectives. Langacker, Ronald W. (1990. Subjectification. Cognitive Linguistics 1. 5–38) typologically categorised the perspectives in event construal as subjective construal and objective construal based on how egocentric a perspective is. Compared with Western languages, such as English, Japanese is argued to be a language that favours subjective construal. However, little empirical work has tested this assumption directly. We investigated whether Japanese and English construe events from different perspectives by focusing on the linguistic encodings of event roles “agent” and “patient”. Our findings show that when selecting event roles as sentence subjects, Japanese speakers prioritised animacy over agency whereas English speakers emphasised agency (while also considering animacy). This can be attributed to the different preferences of the two languages for the degree of egocentricity in event construal. Furthermore, we explored how L1-based conceptualisation of event roles influences the linguistic expressions of event roles in L2. Our results demonstrate that Japanese learners of English had difficulty reconceptualising event roles in L2 English. This study adds a piece of quantitative evidence to the cognitive linguistics theory on subjective construal in Japanese and questions the universality of the agent-first hypothesis in the Thematic Hierarchy.

Theological Programme, Analogies, Innovations in Mural Painting of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in 1894

The purpose of the article is to investigate the theological programme, continuity and originality of the mural paintings of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in 1894. The research methodology is based on historical and cultural analysis, as well as art historical analysis. The scientific novelty of the study. The theological programme of the mural painting of the Cross Exaltation Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in 1894 has been studied: its genesis, ideological basis, main theme, thematic plot lines, and thematic hierarchy have been determined. The continuity principle is defined as the basis of the connection between the original (the 18th century) and renewed (1894; Daniil Davydov) decoration of the Cross Exaltation Church. The pictorial compositions analogies to the paintings of the compartments of Lavra Great Church (Dormition Cathedral) according to the programme of the 1720s are observed. Secondary analogies with some compositions in the Lavra Trinity Gate Church are also indicated. Along with analogies, the differences in the thematic, compositional, and stylistic interpretation of the paintings have been investigated. The academicism features in the mural painting of 1894 have been analysed. The originality of themes and plots addition in the mural paintings with icons in the iconostasis and the altar has been revealed. Conclusions. The mural painting programme’s primary source of the Cross Exaltation Church of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra has been the programme of painting the interior of Lavra Great Church (Dormition Cathedral) in the 1720s. The renewed mural paintings of 1894 inherited the original decoration of the Cross Exaltation Church. Analogies with the paintings of the Great Church can be traced to the theme and general compositional schemes. A partial analogy to the mural painting of the Trinity Church narthex has been used as a component for another theme. Innovations in the paintings of the Cross Exaltation Church have been manifested in the formation of a peculiar thematic hierarchy, a change in compositional elements, and a transition from the baroque style to the traditions of academic sacred painting. The originality is manifested in the presentation of emotionally saturated subjects in the altar icons and paintings, due to which a calm and sublime rhythm of the wall compositions are created. Some icons are a plot addition to the murals. Several thematic lines are revealed in the mural painting, namely the sacrifice of the Saviour on the cross, the sacrifice of a man to God, the meeting of a man with God, the Divine Liturgy and Church of Christ. The main theme of the church painting decoration is the glorification of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and the Precious and Life-giving Cross of the Lord as the instrument of His victory and our salvation. The ideological basis of the mural paintings theological programme is a line from the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews [Hebrews 19:39–40, 20:1–2]. Keywords: sacral culture, Orthodoxy, academic painting, baroque painting, mural painting, sacral painting, Ukrainian painting, Great Church, Dormition Cathedral, Cross Exaltation Church, Holy Trinity Gate Church, Daniil Davydov.

Musical taste preferences in Chinese hip‐hop: Between cultural openness and the rejection of vulgarity

AbstractRecent debates on musical taste have centred on the collapse of cultural boundaries between high art and popular culture. This paper examines Chinese hip‐hop as a unique case study to explore taste preferences in a relatively new popular cultural phenomenon in the understudied context of Eastern popular culture. Drawing from 42 interviews with Chinese young hip‐hop followers, the article examines musical taste preferences within Chinese hip‐hop and different modes of appreciation deployed by listeners. The findings reveal that young Chinese hip‐hop fans display cultural openness to foreign influences and genre mobility. The openness is employed as a marker of cultural capital for the Chinese middle class that values hybridity and innovation. However, even the most open‐minded individuals draw thematic hierarchies within hip‐hop through the unanimous rejection of vulgar and violent themes in favour of more serious and wholesome music. This rejection is framed as a strategy to authenticate hip‐hop within the broader popular culture arena while cultivating personal qualities of civility and wholesomeness that are highly valued in contemporary Chinese society. The paper contributes to the literature on musical taste preferences in cultural consumption by shedding light on the social relevance of cultural openness and music in contemporary Chinese popular culture.

ClioQuery : Interactive Query-oriented Text Analytics for Comprehensive Investigation of Historical News Archives

Historians and archivists often find and analyze the occurrences of query words in newspaper archives to help answer fundamental questions about society. But much work in text analytics focuses on helping people investigate other textual units, such as events, clusters, ranked documents, entity relationships, or thematic hierarchies. Informed by a study into the needs of historians and archivists, we thus propose ClioQuery , a text analytics system uniquely organized around the analysis of query words in context. ClioQuery applies text simplification techniques from natural language processing to help historians quickly and comprehensively gather and analyze all occurrences of a query word across an archive. It also pairs these new NLP methods with more traditional features like linked views and in-text highlighting to help engender trust in summarization techniques. We evaluate ClioQuery with two separate user studies, in which historians explain how ClioQuery ’s novel text simplification features can help facilitate historical research. We also evaluate with a separate quantitative comparison study, which shows that ClioQuery helps crowdworkers find and remember historical information. Such results suggest possible new directions for text analytics in other query-oriented settings.

Study on the Korean Genitive Syntagma

The aim of this paper is to investigate the syntactic status of Korean GenPs and the thematic hierarchy according to the linear order of arguments realised by them in the noun phrases. First, I tried to examine the argument structure and the linearity represented by the Korean GenPs after clarifying some restrictions for the optional and obligatory realisation of Korean genitive Case marker -uyand the linearity of their thematic roles. Second, after critically reviewing the previous analyses of the syntactic status of the Korean genitive Case marker -uy, I analysed it as an element that can be placed in specifier position of functional structure FP which is postulated between NP and DP. Finally, through this analysis, I tried to explain the thematic hierarchy of the Korean GenPs along with the semantic ambiguities caused by structural differences within a well-articulated syntactic structure of DP proposed by Cinque (2010).

Encoding transfer of possession events

The present study focuses on the linguistic and non-linguistic encoding of giving and taking events. For both English and Mandarin Chinese speakers, we find that the linguistic encoding of these transfer events respects the Thematic Hierarchy and the Source-Goal asymmetry (Exp.1 and 2): Agents are mentioned more often than Patient; Goals are encoded more often than Sources. However, in non-linguistic representation, the bias against Sources is not observed (Exp.3 and 4): Giver, Givee, Taker and Takee are equally prominent in memory. Taken together, our results support linguistic theories extending Source/Goal paths to Transfer of Possession events and call for a finer-grained account of homology between linguistic and non-linguistic encoding of events.

Patient Pain Experiences and the Emergency Department Encounter: A Qualitative Analysis

BackgroundLegislation, practice recommendations, and the likely link between therapeutic opioid exposure and iatrogenic opioid use disorder (OUD) have led to reduced opioid prescribing. The effects of this change on unrelieved pain and the overdose crisis are not well-characterized. AimWe explored emergency department (ED) patients’ beliefs and experiences involving pain and emergency care to inform the development of future psychosocial interventions that balance the need for acute pain management with risks from opioid exposure. MethodsQualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted after discharge from an urban, academic Level 1 trauma center ED from September 2020 to May 2021 with 18 adult patients presenting with acute pain. After transcription of audio recording, common themes were identified using framework analysis. Thematic hierarchy was validated with Pearson correlation coefficients for cluster analysis of word similarity. ResultsOf the 18 participants, most were Black (n = 11, 61%) and male (n = 12, 66.7%). Analysis identified one overarching theme: locus of control with an emergency pain encounter. Four themes were identified surrounding internal and external influences on pain management: (1) accessing healthcare for acute pain; (2) managing the pain after discharge; (3) seeking opioids: self-medicating and misuse; and (4) opioid crisis makes people in pain suffer. ConclusionsPatients discharged from the ED reported unrelieved pain, factors that influence their pain management, and an ability to seek opioids from non-medical sources. There is a significant disconnect between patients and providers in terms of priorities in pain management and the importance of individualized care.

Argument structure in the Spanish Determiner Phrase: Acquisition of hierarchies through posessivization

Four types of Determiner Phases (DP) in Spanish have arguments in the form of Prepositional Phrases (PP) introduced by de (‘of’). Picture (foto ‘photo’) and deverbal nouns (descripción ‘description’) project a more complex argument structure than relational (primo ‘cousin’) and deadjectival nouns (belleza ‘beauty’). The possessivization test implies that the most prominent de-PP of each DP type can be possessivized depending on different thematic hierarchies. This study analyzes whether comparative complexity affects convergence on possessivization, with earlier convergence predicted for comparatively simpler relational and deadjectival DPs. To test this prediction, this study examines order of DP acquisition in 52 L1 Spanish-speaking children (6-year-olds (N = 14), 7-year-olds (N = 21), 8-year-olds (N = 17)). A Graded Grammaticality Judgment Task (GGJT) containing 32 items divided across four conditions (relational, deadjectival, picture, deverbal) with four contexts each was administered. Results reveal developmental improvement and partial support for the prediction in that relational DPs are converged upon first, while deverbal DPs are converged upon last. This study’s import is the novel examination of argument structure across four DP types in Spanish-speaking children with the aim of observing and explaining the developmental path.

What psych verbs and other verbs disclose about the role of Semantic Prominence and Thematic Hierarchy in affixal selection

This paper analyses the construction of deverbal adjectives in European Portuguese, focusing on the interface between morphology and semantics, specifically on the role of Thematic Hierarchy and Semantic Prominence on affixal selection.Supported by paradigmatic morphology, the paper shows that suffixes that work in macro-paradigms of deverbal adjectives establish a relationship with specific semantic features of the lexical-semantic structure of the base verb in order to construct the derivative. The analysis concludes that suffixes are sensitive to thematic hierarchy, which is based on the semantic prominence of features of the verbs’ theta-roles at work in the paradigm. Data from psych verbs is highly relevant to this finding.The paper is dedicated to Professor Ana Maria Brito, who has always been keenly aware that scientific knowledge is not confined to a specific theory.

Causer and causee as two higher-ranked thematic roles

AbstractOn the basis of the argument realization of Mandarin resultative verb compounds, this paper argues that the Proto-Agent properties as well as the Proto-Patient properties proposed byDowty (1991)are not equal in status. Specifically, the Proto-Agent property corresponding to the Causer and the Proto-Patient property corresponding to the Causee are two higher-ranked properties. In a non-prototype approach to thematic roles, this means that the Causer and the Causee are two higher-ranked thematic roles that are immediately relevant to the argument realization of monotransitive causative predicates. The paper shows that, compared with Dowty’s equal-weight approach, the alternative approach recognizing the Causer and the Causee as two higher-ranked properties or roles can give a simpler, more effective, and more straightforward account of the argument realization associated with monotransitive causative predicates, including lexical causatives, morphological causatives, and resultatives. This study has implications for research in the argument realization of causatives involving three (or more) arguments as well. Meanwhile, it has implications for any theory utilizing thematic hierarchy because (i) none of the thematic hierarchies proposed in the literature includes both the Causer and the Causee and (ii) a complete theory of thematic roles needs to take these two higher-ranked roles into consideration.

Marked causative structures of Chinese verb-resultative construction

This paper aims to study the syntactic and semantic features of ‘marked VRC causative structures’, those special syntactic-semantic structures formed by verb-resultative constructions (VRCs) which violate both the Uniformity of Theta Assignment Hypothesis and the Thematic Hierarchy. Their syntactic and semantic features are defined as follows: 1) VRC has a causative relation within itself; 2) the argument in the object position is the causee and the only argument of the resultative complement; 3) the causer in the subject position is any conceptual component from the cause event other than the agent of the predicate verb. This paper then attempts to propose an extended account to expound how they are formed syntactically and semantically. On this account, a marked VRC causative structure is re-causativization of a VRC when the VRC is self-causative; it enables other conceptual components of the cause event than the agent to become the causer when a VRC is not self-causative. There are some constraints on what becomes the causer of a marked VRC causative structure.

Argument realization of psychological verbs

AbstractBy using data from nearly thirty languages of various families and regions, this paper examines the argument realization of three types of psychological verbs (i.e. causative bivalent, non-causative bivalent, and monovalent). It finds that, when compared with the argument realization of core transitive verbs likeBREAK, causative bivalent psych verbs show crosslinguistic uniformity in that they pattern with core transitive verbs in argument realization. The same comparative approach finds that the argument realization of non-causative bivalent psych verbs shows a lot of crosslinguistic variation. As for monovalent psych verbs, the paper finds that they almost always pattern with the argument realization of unaccusative verbs. The findings of the paper are accounted for by using the Force-Control-Causality (FCC) model of verb meaning. Under this model, the uniformity in argument realization with respect to causative bivalent psych verbs is due to the prominence of the causative relationship expressed and the directionality of the causality from the Causer to the Causee. The variation in argument realization with respect to non-causative bivalent psych verbs can be attributed to the fact that such verbs express neither causation nor transmission of physical force. As for the near uniformity in argument realization with respect to monovalent psych verbs, it is due to the fact that they involve only one argument (thus no competition for the subject position) and this single argument shares the [−control] feature with the single argument of unaccusative verbs. This study points to the need of recognizing Causer and Causee as two core and highly-ranked thematic roles in a global thematic hierarchy.

An Optimality-Theoretic Analysis of ‘It’-Extraposition in English

The Extraposition phenomenon in English has been analyzed mainly through two approaches: a derivational approach under the Principles & Parameters framework (P&P) [1] and a representational approach under the early Minimalist framework (MP) [2]. The first one tries to understand the phenomenon as a result of the movement of a Big Subject first to the end of a sentence which is then followed by the insertion of an expletive ‘it’ to the empty Subject position. On the other hand, the second one tries to understand it by way of assuming a Big Subject originally base-generated at the end of a sentence which is followed by the insertion of an expletive ‘it’ to the empty Subject position. The two approaches, however, are not free from theoretical defects at all: the full derivational approach was under controversy in terms of (1) the failure of the Binding Theory and (2) its inability to suggest anything about the marginal reading issue. On the while, the representational approach has been argued (1) to violate the thematic hierarchy that should be kept in Dstructure, and (2) to be also unable to suggest the slightest difference in marginal reading issue as the first one. In this paper I focus mainly on analyzing the ‘It’-Extraposition phenomenon in the Optimality Theory [3]. I will show that by way of (i) some newly developed constraints such as Subj., and AHSubj. and (ii) a constraint hierarchy of Subj.>>AHSubj., the controversies of ‘It-Extraposition’ such as (1) the analysis of construction and (2) the very closely related issue of ‘marginal reading issue’ can be explained properly.

Comparing the performance of flat and hierarchical Habitat/Land-Cover classification models in a NATURA 2000 site

The increasing need for high quality Habitat/Land-Cover (H/LC) maps has triggered considerable research into novel machine-learning based classification models. In many cases, H/LC classes follow pre‐defined hierarchical classification schemes (e.g., CORINE), in which fine H/LC categories are thematically nested within more general categories. However, none of the existing machine-learning algorithms account for this pre-defined hierarchical structure. Here we introduce a novel Random Forest (RF) based application of hierarchical classification, which fits a separate local classification model in every branching point of the thematic tree, and then integrates all the different local models to a single global prediction. We applied the hierarchal RF approach in a NATURA 2000 site in Italy, using two land-cover (CORINE, FAO-LCCS) and one habitat classification scheme (EUNIS) that differ from one another in the shape of the class hierarchy. For all 3 classification schemes, both the hierarchical model and a flat model alternative provided accurate predictions, with kappa values mostly above 0.9 (despite using only 2.2–3.2% of the study area as training cells). The flat approach slightly outperformed the hierarchical models when the hierarchy was relatively simple, while the hierarchical model worked better under more complex thematic hierarchies. Most misclassifications came from habitat pairs that are thematically distant yet spectrally similar. In 2 out of 3 classification schemes, the additional constraints of the hierarchical model resulted with fewer such serious misclassifications relative to the flat model. The hierarchical model also provided valuable information on variable importance which can shed light into “black-box” based machine learning algorithms like RF. We suggest various ways by which hierarchical classification models can increase the accuracy and interpretability of H/LC classification maps.

Valency and expectation in Bantu applicatives

Abstract Bantu applicatives are standardly analysed syntactically, as encoding a change in valency. However, in many cases applicatives do not change valency, but are rather related to a change in interpretation. In particular pragmatic functions of applicatives related to focus and emphasis are often noted in the description of individual languages, but are very rarely reflected in typological or theoretical work. To address this problem, this paper develops a pragmatic analysis of applicatives, in which applicatives signal that the action denoted by the base verb is being carried out in some way remarkably, and so differently from normal expectations about the action. Pragmatic effects are found with all uses of applicatives, and may lead to a change in valency, or not. Absence of a change in valency is found in particular with locative and instrument applicatives, while benefactive applicatives almost always entail a change in valency. This is related to the thematic hierarchy: Beneficiaries occupy a high position in the thematic hierarchy and have a strong effect on the expectedness of the action expressed. The advantage of our analysis is that it addresses both interpretational and structural aspects of applicative constructions and provides a unified explanation for them.

The Canonical Order of Russian Objects

According to the principles of economy, scrambled orders require an interpretive license. Removal of such a license should result in canonical orders, that is, orders I hypothesize to be determined by a thematic hierarchy. It is traditionally assumed that the interpretive license for scrambling is provided by information-structural interpretations such as focus and background. However, either direct object–indirect object or indirect object–direct object order is possible in Russian all-focus constructions, complicating the choice of order analyzed as canonical. I argue that Russian scrambling can be licensed by a variety of interpretations, focus/background encoding being but one of them. When the construal of objects is neutralized on the basis of all of the relevant interpretations, the direct object–indirect object order surfaces, strongly suggesting that this is the canonical order of Russian objects.

How do undergraduate medical students learn ophthalmology in a clinical environment?

Aim: This phenomenological study looked at the nature of undergraduate medical student learning in an ophthalmology environment. The study set out to identify what influences the quality of medical students’ educational experience in ophthalmology. The study was conducted on 17 final-year medical students from a medical school in the west of Ireland, after undertaking their 3-week combined clinicalbased ophthalmology/neurology programme at a tertiary referral teaching hospital. Methods: Learning diaries were used as a reflective tool for recording the learners’ personal learning experiences. A primary analysis of the diaries was used to formulate a topic guide for semi-structured interviews with each of the participating students. Template analysis was used to code the data, create themes and establish thematic hierarchies. Results: Individual students’ learning experiences were affected by intra-personal and inter-personal factors. Inter-personal factors included the quality of the learner–teacher relationship and the interaction between peer learners. Intra-personal factors were individual perceptions of what was expected of the students by tutors and by the medical school. Conclusion: To create positive and effective learning environments for learners in ophthalmology and orthoptics, teachers should become much more aware of themselves as models of practice and should take time to observe students perform as well as provide feedback.

Ergatives and Middles in Comparison and Contrast

This paper delves into some basic aspects of passive, ergative, and middle constructions in terms of transitivity, thematic relation, and syntactic derivation. Accordingly, I propose that, first of all, passives are transitive as the passive verb takes two arguments, an Agent external argument and a Theme internal argument. They are seen to be derived via NP-movement, in which the Theme internal object moves to subject position to get Case. Second, ergatives are also considered to be transitive in that they take the two arguments corresponding to those of passives. The external argument in ergatives, however, is argued to carry a non-human Causer, which is normally saturated and does not appear on the surface. The internal argument allegedly carrying a Theme theta-role is assumed to move to subject position to satisfy EPP. Finally, middles are argued to be intransitive, taking only a single internal argument with an Experiencer theta-role. The Experiencer internal argument moves into subject position to satisfy EPP and to place itself in a higher position than a Theme argument, subsequently conforming to Thematic Hierarchy, assumed in Larson (1988).

China: Economic magnet or rival? Framing of China in the Dutch- and French-language elite press in Belgium and the Netherlands

Given the increasing attention China has attracted on a global scale over the last few decades, ample academic research has been conducted into the types of China discourses, spread through the media. Studies have pointed at a mounting Sino-phobic discourse in some US media, which prompts the question whether similar attitudes and frames emerge in non-English media narratives. Hence, this study examines how the Belgian as well as the Dutch elite press engage with the new world player. It combines a content analysis, looking into thematic hierarchies and tone/perspective with a critical discourse analysis, retrieving discursive practices, such as evaluative positioning and framing of the country and its main actors. In addition, the article integrates framing research with a Gramscian notion of media hegemony to investigate whether the particular source selection leaves room for a heteroglossic environment.

La calidad periodística en caso de desastres naturales: cobertura televisiva de un terremoto en Chile

This paper presents a quantitative content analysis to assess the presence or absence of required professional journalistic standards in television news coverage of natural disasters. A code sheet of 45 variables was used to evaluate thematic hierarchy, focus, emotional tone, use of sources, audiovisual treatment and presence of opinion and speculation in a sample of 1612 news from the coverage of the main television networks in Chile regarding the earthquake that struck the country on February 27, 2010. The significance of this instrument strives in the possibility of comparing journalism in case of catastrophes with normal patterns and from there on to analyze deficiencies and difficulties that are to be faced in such extraordinary circumstances.