Variation In Language Use Research Articles

Manajemen Bahasa Penulisan Proposal Mahasiswa Nonkebahasaan

This research raised the issue of language management as (1) the planning process in determining the vision and mission of writing a proposal (formulating a topic), (2) organizing (compiling the proposal writing structure as effectively as possible), (3) conducting a leadership strategy, that is, a strategy related to motivating, influencing and directing the reader, and (4) controlling (editing or editing the proposal writing). These four aspects of language management are focused on the use of Indonesian in proposals in terms of (1) sentence structure, (2) structure, (3) meaning/diction, and (4) writing. The subject of this study was a student proposal from the Faculty of Economics, Mulawarman University. Data in the form of language management, namely the planning process of writing proposals to editing student proposals is collected by the documentation method. To strengthen the classification of variations in language use on proposals, validation is carried out from experts in the field of error analysis or in the field of applied linguistics. Data in the form of eleven proposals from the Faculty of Economics students were analyzed using descriptive analysis methods. The results showed that in the proposal writing of non-linguistic students had fulfilled the four aspects of language management (style of environment of the faculty of economics) namely, the stages of planning, organizing, writing, and editing. In addition to paying attention to writing management, writing a proposal also has writing characteristics. Krakteristik is the hallmark of an idea both in writing and presentation. Characteristics contain facts, contain both title and problem descriptions, use of theory, problem-solving and conclude. found a variety of deviations in the use of language, both relating to the sentence structure, the formations, the order of meaning/diction, and writing.

Language Use in the Classroom: Balancing Target Language Exposure With the Need for Other Languages

Recent trends in language education have promoted the use of students’ linguistic repertoires in the classroom. However, research is lacking into how languages are actually used in target language instruction. This study contributes new knowledge from lower secondary classrooms in Norway, combining a large data set of video observed English lessons (N = 60) of naturally occurring instruction over time, with a survey of students’ (N = 179) experiences of their teachers’ language practices. The study reports how languages were used and perceived in seven classrooms across Grades 9–10. Findings indicate three main patterns. First, there was considerable variation in language use in these classrooms, which seemed dependent on the teacher rather than students and school. Second, there was hardly any use of languages other than the language of schooling (Norwegian) and the target language (English), but a few references to linguistic repertoires signalled a focus on multilingualism in some classrooms. Third, survey data indicate that students perceived teachers’ use of Norwegian, regardless of amount, helpful. The study demonstrates teachers’ and students’ balancing of target language exposure with the need for other languages, even with extensive variation in the use of English and Norwegian and infrequent references to students’ other linguistic repertoires in most classrooms.

Speech and Social Class in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights

Language is a human trait associated with a particular community or ethnicity; there are a range of languages that represent their existence. On the other hand, the diversity of language shows aspects of their communication. Language also reflects in social construction when humans communicate to each other. In other words, language is used in social class, social status, and educational background that are called social dialect; a variety of languages that reflect social variation in language use, according to certain factors related to the social group of the speaker such as education, occupation, income level, etc. In this research, the characters’ speech in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights (1847) is examined, in particular by dealing with spelling, grammar and lexis to explain what role speech plays in the character construction. The findings of this work indicate that this author of the Victorian literature used speech to both individualize characters and to bind them to a certain groups, which can mostly be defined by social status; a unique type of speech is provided to each main personality to denote his or her social status. A list of references is shared at the end.

Sentence Length and Complexity in Hemingway's Short story : A Clean, Well-Lighted Place : A Stylistic study

The term style is somehow difficult to define . The difficulty arises from the fact that it is acquiring several interpretations . Such interpretations might refer to abstract notions such as " style of deviations " ; or " style is choice " or a distinct personality (the style of Shakespeare ) ; or to periods ( the baroque style ) and the like ( Galperine , 1977:11). 
 Carter and Nashe (1990:36) argue that style can be recognized because it stands out in one way or another from a standard . This view simply means style can be seen as deviation . However , such a view cannot be taken for granted since norms are very difficult to standardize . Wales (1990 ) [quoted in Missikova ,2003] in her famous book A Dictionary of Stylistics listed the most common characteristics of style as follows : 
 
 Style refers to the manner of expression in writing and speaking .
 Style can be seen as variation in language use , whether literary or non-literary . The term register is commonly used for such variations in linguistic features found in non-literary situations ,
 
 such as legal language , advertising , etc.
 
 Style is seen as distinctive of register , genre or period.
 Style is defined in terms of choice of items , and their distribution and
 
 patterning .
 As deviation from a norm , style is a concept that is used traditionally in literary stylistics , since literary language is more deviant than non-literary language use .
 To sum up , Warner (1961:1) ; Garvin (1964:112) go on to state that in spite of the different interpretations of the term style , the simplest interpretation is that is a manner of expressing one's thoughts and feelings in words .

Young Adults’ Conversational Strategies During Negotiation and Self-Disclosure in Same-Gender and Mixed-Gender Friendships

Actor gender and partner gender effects on conversational strategies were investigated among young adult friends during assigned negotiation and self-disclosure tasks. The sample comprised 146 same- or mixed-gender friendship pairs (age range = 17–23) of U.S. undergraduates from diverse ethnic-racial backgrounds (52% White, 19% Latinx, 17% Asian, 18% other). Pairs of same-gender friends or mixed-gender friends were assigned a negotiation task and a self-disclosure task while their conversations were video-recorded. Dyadic analyses were conducted using hierarchical linear modeling to assess actor gender and partner gender effects on conversational strategies. During the negotiation task, women were more likely than men were to use affiliative strategies (requests, indirect suggestions, justifications); in contrast, men were more likely to use self-emphasizing strategies (direct suggestions). In the self-disclosure task, women were more likely than men to express self-disclosing statements and to provide reflective listening responses to friends’ disclosures (e.g., elaborations, backchannel interjections) especially in same-gender pairs. In contrast, men were more likely to use distancing responses (e.g., negative comments). Most effect sizes were small. Finally, participants’ ratings of conflict in the friendship were related to the likelihood of some speech strategies in both tasks. Findings highlight the contexts of gender-related variations in language use among young adult friends.

What’s in a word? Contextual diversity, urban ethnography and the linguistic limits of the street

This article takes to task a common assumption within Anglophone scholarship that conceives the street as a preeminent site of urban life, arguing that this sociological truism has worked to obscure the role of other spaces, terms and experiences across different historical, geographical and linguistic contexts. In response, and building on recent reappraisals in sociology of the work of Raymond Williams, the aim of this article is to analyse the street as a particular keyword and reflect on how a cultural materialist approach to lexical change can be incorporated into the practices of urban ethnography and translation. To develop its methodological argument, the article draws on the author’s research on Italian cities, where rather than the strada (street), the piazza and the vicolo (alleyway) have typically commanded a more prominent place in ideas about the public realm. At the same time, the disparate meanings of these two spatial forms attest to the uneven and disputed positions of different Italian cities within national urban culture. In conclusion, the article argues for greater attention to be paid to variations in language use vis-a-vis urban spatial forms as the prerequisite for a more incisive sociology of the street.

Lexikographische Lösungsansätze: Zur Bedeutung korpuslinguistischer Kontexualisierungsstrategien

AbstractIn recent years, both the availability of electronic resources (such as the BNC and the DWDS) and the possibility of compiling highly specialised large corpora (e.g. on the same topic, interaction type or communicative event) together with the development of ever more sophisticated corpus-linguistic tools, have opened new horizons in the study of language use and, consequently, in lexicography, translation and the teaching and learning of second/foreign languages. However, working with huge amounts of data and/or information remains a challenging issue, and search strategies are needed to cope more effectively with linguistic phenomena such as intralinguistic and interlinguistic variation in language use and polyfunctionality, which appear to be the rule rather than the exception in natural languages, not only in everyday language but in LSP communication, too.This paper will focus on different contextualization strategies. The examples offered, drawn from highly specialized subcorpora on the one hand and from very large general language corpora on the other, will illustrate once more the impact of variables such as domain, topic, text type etc., which can be observed even in the case of core vocabulary items. Furthermore it will discuss the potential offered by concgrams, which allow us to cope with many of the difficulties described above.

When I need/want to: Normativity, identity, and form in user construals of ‘talk-like’ tweeting

The focus of this study is on how Twitter users construe talk-like tweeting in metalinguistic utterances. In a material of tweets containing or responding to explicit comparisons of tweeting to talking (N=520), a broad range of construals are identified, showing Twitter users associating talk-likeness with, e.g., notions of the textual representation of voice, of grammatical (in-)correctness, of accurately reflecting one׳s ‘real-life’ identity, and of regional or social variation in language use. These associations frequently serve normative functions, enforcing or contesting linguistic and discursive norms in both serious and playful ways. The findings offer a novel perspective on the oft-debated orality of computer-mediated discourse, providing a window on how a process of enregisterment (Agha, 2007) is instantiated and how language norms are actively negotiated by participants in everyday online language use on Twitter.

Methods, innovations and extensions: Reflections on half a century of methodology in social dialectology

Labov's ingenuity in devising methods for collecting and analysing ‘the language used by ordinary people in their everyday affairs’ (1972: 69) is unmatched. This paper considers the goals and underlying questions shaping the methods that Labov innovated for (1) collecting quantities of everyday speech, (2) approaching variation in language use scientifically, and (3) thinking interdisciplinarily. The first includes the sociolinguistic interview, and other activities focused directly on forms, and critiques of Labov's methods. The second includes quantitative methods and raises some broader issues around triangulation. The third includes the complementary use of attitudes and perception data with production data. It concludes by suggesting that Labov's body of work has also contributed to the creation of a distinct, sociolinguistic community of practice.

Speaking Different Languages or Reading from the Same Script? Word Usage of Democratic and Republican Politicians

Words are believed to be indicators of the values that are important to politicians and an impressive amount of empirical research has analyzed variations in language use. While it is generally accepted that there are value differences between Democrats and Republicans, the extent to which these differences are reflected in word usage has been theorized but is largely untested. The connection between values and language is, theoretically, not limited just to politicians, but should be especially evident among politicians as representatives of existing ideological poles. In this article, we examine elite rhetoric through the lens of four value-centered theoretical frameworks (Lakoff’s Parenting Styles model, Moral Foundations Theory, Schwartz’s Values Theory, and Motivated Social Cognition Theory). Contrary to the expectations posited by these four theories, we find little reliable evidence of value-related language differences between Democratic and Republican politicians. Our findings suggest that, at least when it comes to elite rhetoric, widely accepted theoretical claims about the value-based nature of political language and political differences are not consistently supported by empirical analysis.

Cross-linguistic variation and efficiency by John A. Hawkins (review)

Reviewed by: Cross-linguistic variation and efficiency by John A. Hawkins Elaine J. Francis Cross-linguistic variation and efficiency. By John A. Hawkins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. 271. ISBN 97980199665006. $49.95. How do performance factors influence the fixed grammatical conventions of languages? How does crosslinguistic variation in grammatical structure inform our understanding of language use? In Cross-linguistic variation and efficiency, John A. Hawkins presents new applications and refinements of the principles proposed in his earlier book Efficiency and complexity in grammars (2004), representing the latest development in a long line of research on the relationships among grammar, typology, and performance. As in his previous major works on this topic (Hawkins 1983, 1994, 2004), H argues that factors related to language use have left their mark on grammars in such a way that one can find evidence of their influence in numerous grammatical rules and crosslinguistic generalizations. In turn, he shows how linguistic evidence from grammatical rules and crosslinguistic generalizations can shed light on aspects of performance that might otherwise remain obscure. The current work applies the principles proposed in Hawkins 2004 to a wider range of empirical data and addresses a number of recent developments in language processing, syntactic theory, historical linguistics, and linguistic typology. Ch. 1 summarizes the performance grammar correspondence hypothesis (PGCH) and lays out some of its predictions. The PGCH is stated as follows: ‘Grammars have conventionalized syntactic structures in proportion to their degree of preference in performance, as evidenced by patterns of selection in corpora and by ease of processing in psycholinguistic experiments’ (3). The primary evidence for this hypothesis is found in parallels between patterns of variation in language use and patterns of variation among grammars, of which numerous examples are given throughout the book. Ch. 2 reviews the three major efficiency principles from Hawkins 2004: minimize domains (MiD), minimize forms (MiF), and maximize online processing (MaOP), and gives examples from both performance and grammar illustrating how these principles cooperate and compete with each other. One example is the distribution of gaps versus resumptive pronouns in relative clauses. Whereas gaps are favored by MiF, since there are fewer morphological forms to process, resumptive pronouns are favored by MiD, since they provide a local argument for processing lexical cooccurrences within the relative clause (24). H provides evidence both from systematic crosslinguistic variation in the distribution of gaps versus resumptive pronouns and from variation in usage for languages like Hebrew and Cantonese that allow the option of either gap or resumptive pronoun in certain positions. Both sources of data confirm the same pattern: resumptive pronouns are preferred more often in structurally more complex environments for which overall efficiency is achieved through domain minimization at the expense of form minimization. Ch. 3 situates the three major efficiency principles in the context of current findings in psycholinguistics. One current line of research develops the idea that linguistic elements are easier to process when they are more predictable within a given context (Levy 2008), and the related idea that speakers maintain, on average, a uniform information density in spontaneous speech by reducing the form of more-predictable information and elaborating the form of less-predictable information (Jaeger 2006). H’s MiF captures the same general idea, but lacks the precise metrics used to quantify predictability (or surprisal) and information density. H acknowledges the usefulness of these measures and sees them as a complement to his own proposals. Another current issue addressed in this chapter is the apparent contradiction between studies that show locality effects (i.e. a processing advantage for local dependencies as compared with nonlocal ones), and those that show antilocality effects (i.e. a processing advantage for nonlocal dependencies). H exemplifies this contrast with the case of relative clause extraposition in German and English (52–57). Konieczny’s (2000) German data showed antilocality effects in word-by-word reading, [End Page 253] in the form of shorter reading times on the verb when preceded by an object-modifying relative clause, but longer reading times on the verb when the relative clause was extraposed (55). In contrast, Francis’s (2010) English data showed locality effects in that whole-sentence reading times were faster...

Using an AD-HOC Corpus to Write About Emerging Technologies for Technical Writing and Translation: The Case of Search Engine Optimization

Technical writers and translators struggle with language consistency in emerging technologies. Corpus linguistics can track language structures in such quickly developing environments. An ad-hoc corpus may be the tool needed for technical communicators. Key concepts: Mega-corpora versus ad-hoc corpora: The term “mega-corpora” typically covers the existing national corpora, whereas ad-hoc corpora can be created quickly for technical communication. Variation versus consistency: variation covers the range of possible solutions compared to the need for consistency of terminology in given contexts. Representativeness versus adequacy: representativeness defines the possibility of variation within the scope of the field; in contrast , adequacy represents contextual suitability. Key lessons: To use ad-hoc corpora as a tool for keeping track of and understanding language variation in texts about emerging technology: (1) design and compile a small set of relevant descriptions regarding the emerging technology, (2) use the software corpus tool representation of corpora to evaluate whether the ad-hoc corpus is representative-meaning that adding new texts does not add new words or variations in terminology use, (3) use the software corpus tool AntConc to analyze the ad-hoc corpus finding concordance patterns and variation in terminology usage, and (4) use linguistic strategies for selecting terminology based on linguistic evidence rather than intuition. Implications for practice: The ad-hoc corpus method offers an evidence-based approach for determining patterns of terminology. This method can be applied to standardizing product documentation or tracking variations in language use and can help technical writers and translators keep track of evolving terminology for emerging technologies.

Synonym extraction and abbreviation expansion with ensembles of semantic spaces

BackgroundTerminologies that account for variation in language use by linking synonyms and abbreviations to their corresponding concept are important enablers of high-quality information extraction from medical texts. Due to the use of specialized sub-languages in the medical domain, manual construction of semantic resources that accurately reflect language use is both costly and challenging, often resulting in low coverage. Although models of distributional semantics applied to large corpora provide a potential means of supporting development of such resources, their ability to isolate synonymy from other semantic relations is limited. Their application in the clinical domain has also only recently begun to be explored. Combining distributional models and applying them to different types of corpora may lead to enhanced performance on the tasks of automatically extracting synonyms and abbreviation-expansion pairs.ResultsA combination of two distributional models – Random Indexing and Random Permutation – employed in conjunction with a single corpus outperforms using either of the models in isolation. Furthermore, combining semantic spaces induced from different types of corpora – a corpus of clinical text and a corpus of medical journal articles – further improves results, outperforming a combination of semantic spaces induced from a single source, as well as a single semantic space induced from the conjoint corpus. A combination strategy that simply sums the cosine similarity scores of candidate terms is generally the most profitable out of the ones explored. Finally, applying simple post-processing filtering rules yields substantial performance gains on the tasks of extracting abbreviation-expansion pairs, but not synonyms. The best results, measured as recall in a list of ten candidate terms, for the three tasks are: 0.39 for abbreviations to long forms, 0.33 for long forms to abbreviations, and 0.47 for synonyms.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that ensembles of semantic spaces can yield improved performance on the tasks of automatically extracting synonyms and abbreviation-expansion pairs. This notion, which merits further exploration, allows different distributional models – with different model parameters – and different types of corpora to be combined, potentially allowing enhanced performance to be obtained on a wide range of natural language processing tasks.

Nouns Cut Slices

Three studies examined the effect of nouns and adjectives for designations of nationality on intergroup bias. In Study 1, participants ( N = 237) evaluated group artifacts whose authors’ nationality was labeled with nouns or adjectives. Use of nouns enhanced in-group favoritism, manifested as a preference of the in-group artifact. Study 2 ( N = 431) tested the effect of nouns and adjectives on attitudes toward the in-group and out-group focusing on the moderating role of in-group identification. Use of nouns led to a stronger relative preference of the in-group, pronounced especially in low identified group members. Study 3 ( N = 979) examined the effect of nouns and adjectives in a more applied survey setting. Intergroup bias concerning material restitution for confiscated property was stronger when the ethnicity of the former owners was labeled with nouns. The article emphasizes that subtle variation in language use has a consistent impact on intergroup evaluation.

Educational Research: The Challenge of Using an Academic Discipline

Background/Context In 2010, I was invited to give the annual lecture that honors Lawrence Cremin, the historian of American education who became the seventh president of Teachers College, Columbia University. To pay tribute to the way in which Cremin used an academic discipline to bring rigor and depth to educational research, I described my own use of an academic discipline—linguistics and its varied tools of discourse analysis—in conducting research at the College. Focus of Research I focused on two major areas of research: (a) ethnocultural variation in processing spatio-temporal information in languages throughout the world and (b) children's interaction with multiple-choice tests of reading comprehension, with particular attention to the ways in which their ethnocultural background affects how they respond. Research Design and Findings The first area of research used experimental methods developed by a research team that I directed. The major finding was that distinctive patterns of processing spatiotemporal information by speakers of African languages (e.g., Hausa) and Asian languages (e.g., Chinese) are preserved when African Americans and Chinese Americans speak English in the Western hemisphere. In addition to ethnocultural identity, our research team uncovered other factors such as age and gender that are reflected in the preservation of these patterns. I draw on the model structured heterogeneity (Herzog, Weinrich, & Labov, 1968) to show that what may appear to be random variation in language use can be accounted for by attending to sociocultural factors. The second area of research used quantitative methods (experimental probes) and qualitative methods (interviews). Our major finding was that children, especially African Americans who live in the inner city, often make inferences when responding to a multiple-choice task, which, although stimulated by features in the test item, lead them to select a choice, which, given the test makers’ highly restricted model of literacy, cannot be justified. Our research team drew on the model ethnography of communication (Hymes, 1962) in identifying the contrasting interpretive norms used by test makers and test takers. We then developed a model grounded constructivism (Hill, 2004) that was used to build an alternative approach to assessment in which children respond to an integrated set of tasks that call for three different kinds of response: factual, inferential, and experiential. Recommendations An academic discipline can provide greater depth and rigor in educational research, but those who draw on one must seek, much like Lawrence Cremin, to make their research intelligible to an informed public concerned with educational policy.

Understanding Scientific Methodology in the Historical and Experimental Sciences via Language Analysis

A key focus of current science education reforms involves developing inquiry-based learning materials. However, without an understanding of how working scientists actually do science, such learning materials cannot be properly developed. Until now, research on scientific reasoning has focused on cognitive studies of individual scientific fields. However, the question remains as to whether scientists in different fields fundamentally rely on different methodologies. Although many philosophers and historians of science do indeed assert that there is no single monolithic scientific method, this has never been tested empirically. We therefore approach this problem by analyzing patterns of language used by scientists in their published work. Our results demonstrate systematic variation in language use between types of science that are thought to differ in their characteristic methodologies. The features of language use that were found correspond closely to a proposed distinction between Experimental Sciences (e.g., chemistry) and Historical Sciences (e.g., paleontology); thus, different underlying rhetorical and conceptual mechanisms likely operate for scientific reasoning and communication in different contexts.

Phonological and Grammatical Variation in Exemplar Models

AbstractPhonological and grammatical structure is shaped by usage patterns, as demonstrated by the effects of context and frequency on variation and change. We argue for an exemplar model of lexical representations, in which tokens of use are registered in memory, including phonetic detail as well as linguistic and social contextual information. Since variation is omnipresent in the input, it comes to be represented directly in cognitive representations, which are a record of speakers’ experience with language. Frequency of use and other lexical effects in sound change, which is gradual both phonetically and lexically, are built into exemplar models as the strengthening of exemplars by use and the clustering of exemplars based on phonetic and semantic similarities. The effects of particular lexical items and collocational discourse routines in morpho-syntactic variation and change, including the interaction of the particular and the general in grammaticization, are similarly modeled by the representation of specific instances of constructions and the gradient associations among related forms. Since variation in language use is pervasive and highly conditioned by context, exemplar models are particularly wellsuited to account for variation and change.

The role of context in mother–child interactions: an analysis of communicative intents expressed during toy play and book reading with 12-month-olds

The situational contexts most commonly represented in studies of language acquisition are book reading and toy play. Remarkably few studies have explicitly compared the language of young children or their adult interactants across different situational contexts, despite the likelihood that certain contexts may promote particular interaction styles. In the current study, we compare the speech of mothers and their 12-month-old children in book reading versus toy play contexts by examining communicative activities that emerge in each context, and by determining if contexts generate differences in the children's sophistication of language. Results indicated that context influenced both maternal and child expression of pragmatic intents. Most striking was the finding that children, as young as 12 months of age, showed variations in language use, vocabulary, and early syntax, given contextual differences. These findings suggest that distinctions in maternal interaction style (e.g., conversation-eliciting vs. directive) may have to be examined to exclude the possibility that these are differences in preferred context of interaction more than in style of talking. In addition, assessments of child language are generally assumed to be robust and not influenced by differences between book reading and toy play; our results suggest, though, that context makes a rather large difference.

Towards understanding and studying cohesion in schizophrenic speech

ABSTRACTCohesion analysis has been used to investigate the language of schizophrenics and that associated with other psychiatric syndromes. Alverson and Rosenberg (1990) reviewed this technique. Such analyses properly imply the necessity and value of a broad approach to language and language use. To be optimally useful, cohesion analysis must be seen in its theoretical context. Cohesion is one means of creating text, and therefore it cannot account for all aspects of the pretheoretical notion of coherence. Cohesion may realize elements of register and code, but these concepts are distinct and account for different kinds of variation in language use. As a research tool, cohesion is one initial step of linguistic analysis that can meet the dual criteria of both an analysis of language in context and in reliability.

Word and World Order: Semantic, Phonological, and Metrical Determinants of Serial Position

Animacy, word length, and prosody have all been accorded prominent roles in explanations for word order variations in language use. We examined the sequencing effects of these factors in two types of tasks. In recall tasks designed to simulate language production, we found selective effects of animacy. Animate nouns tended to appear as subjects in transitive sentences, but showed no special affinity for initial position in conjunctions within sentences, suggesting a stronger involvement of animacy in grammatical role assignment than in word ordering. Word length had no significant impact: Shorter words did not appear earlier than longer words within sentences or within isolated conjunctions of nouns. Prosody had a weak effect on word order in isolated conjunctions, favoring sequences with alternating rhythm, but only in the absence of an animacy contrast. These results tend to confirm a hypothesized role for conceptual (meaning-based) accessibility in grammatical role assignment and to disconfirm a hypothesized role for lexical (form-based) accessibility in word ordering. In a judgment task, forms with animate nouns early were preferred across all constructions, and forms with short words early were often preferred both in sentences and in conjunctions. The findings suggest a possible asymmetry between comprehension and production in functional accounts of word order variations.