Words Research Articles

Exploring linguistic markers, threat appraisals, and genetic variation during mixed‐sex couples' conflict conversations

AbstractHow couples communicate during conflict interactions can have important implications for their relational well‐being. The theory of resilience and relational load provides a valuable lens for exploring the associations among couples' language use during conflict conversations and the extent to which such conversations are perceived as threatening to one's relationship, as well as whether genetic markers moderate such associations. Forty‐seven mixed‐sex couples had a conversation about a topic causing conflict in their relationship and provided saliva samples that were tested for their genotype (GG, AA, or AG) for oxytocin receptor gene rs53576. The results revealed that neither the use of communal language nor positive emotion words were associated with perceiving the conversation as less threatening to their relationship. Genetic variation did not moderate the associations with either positive emotion word use or communal language. However, a three‐way interaction between sex, OXTR, and positive emotion word use emerged in the post hoc analyses, indicating that positive emotion word use was negatively associated with threat appraisals for women with a GG genotype, and positively associated with threat appraisals for men with a GG genotype. Implications for mixed‐sex couples' communication and research on language use during conflict conversations are discussed.

Formalizing theories of child development: Introduction to the special section.

Here we introduce a Special Section of Child Development entitled "Formalizing Theories of Child Development." This Special Section features five papers that use mathematical models to advance our understanding of central questions in the study of child development. This landmark collection is timely: it signifies growing awareness that rigorous empirical bricks are not enough; we need solid theory to build the house. By stating theory in mathematical terms, formal models make concepts, assumptions, and reasoning more explicit than verbal theory does. This increases falsifiability, promotes cumulative science, and enables integration with mathematical theory in allied disciplines. The Special Section contributions cover a range of topics: the developmental origins of counting, interactions between mathematics and language development, visual exploration and word learning in infancy, referent identification by toddlers, and the emergence of typical and atypical development. All are written in an accessible manner and for a broad audience.

Composing Radiographic Dictionary for Radiology Students and Radiographers

The rapid development of science and technology on radiology requires radiology students in particular and radiographers in general to be able to understand and master the science and technology through books or scientific articles, which are mostly written in English. To help them understand the radiological scientific information easily, a complete basic terminologies dictionary on radiology is needed. This study aimed to analyze the vocabularies contained in radiology textbooks linguistically which then are compiled into a radiological pocket dictionary. This research used a qualitative descriptive method. Data were taken in the form of vocabulary list resulted from previous research conducted by the author on radiology textbooks in 2019. This research had 7 stages of activities which include syntactic, morphological, semantic, and phonetic analysis. In addition, the vocabularies then went through 2 stages of evaluation to check the perfection of words regarding to their writing, meaning, and pronunciation. Furthermore, each vocabulary was given an example of its use in the form of sentences in the context of radiology. Results of the study in the form of a pocket dictionary consisting list of basic radiological vocabulary/terms accompanied by the syntactic categories, the meaning of words in Indonesian language that are in accordance with the scientific context of radiology, phonetic transcription, and examples of the use of words in sentences in the context of radiology are expected to contribute to improving the quality of human resources of radiographers in Indonesia.

Exploring the feasibility of a mental health application (JoyPopTM) for Indigenous youth.

The purpose of the current study was to explore the acceptability and feasibility of a resilience-focused mobile application, JoyPop™, for use with Indigenous youth. A Haudenosaunee community-based research advisory committee co-developed the research project, in accordance with OCAP™ principles. Adopting a mixed-method approach, five youths from an immersion school used the JoyPop™ app for four consecutive weeks, as well as completed pre-test questions and weekly usage surveys. Most participants also completed post-test questions and a semi-structured interview. Based on a semi-structured interview protocol, youth responded to questions, and the most common themes were categorized to capture the experience of using the app. All youth reported a positive impression, used the app daily, found it easy to navigate, and indicated that they would recommend it to a friend. All features were uniformly positively endorsed. There were features that youth used most often (Deep Breathing, "SquareMoves" game, and Art features) and moderately (Rate My Mood, Journaling, and SleepEase). The social connection feature, Circle of Trust, was least utilized, with youth reporting a preference for in-person problem-solving. The drop-down menu of crisis helplines was not used. Youth recommended more gaming options. In terms of cultural resonance, appreciation for the app's use of water sounds in the SleepEase feature was expressed, as was cultural consistency with the "Good Mind" perspective. Recommendations included additional nature sounds, Indigenous design elements, the inclusion of Native language words, and traditional stories. The JoyPop™ app was positively received by Six Nations youth, and ways to ensure its cultural appropriateness were identified. Moving forward, it is recommended that Indigenous designers create a new version with community design co-creation. Additional research with various groups of Indigenous youth is warranted as a pan-Indigenous approach is not recommended.

Shades of the Assessment of Slavic Loanwords in Southern Aukštaitian Subdialects

The article discusses the connotation, context of usage and tendencies of loanwords (nouns and adjectives) from Slavic languages used in the subdialects of the Southern Aukštaitians. The research conducted revealed that the constant connotation is usually characteristic of loanwords that name persons and other living beings by their character traits, habits and inclinations, less often by their physical characteristics. Loanwords acquire a contextual connotation in contexts (combinations of words and sentences) in which the physical characteristics and appearance of the object under discussion (a person or other living being) are assessed from a certain aspect. The positive or negative shade of the assessment of loanwords with constant connotation can be used not only in a word taken separately but also in a wider context of usage. Loanwords of Southern Aukštaitian subdialects usually have a negative connotation. The spectrum of the assessment of the object in question is quite wide: from teasing to ridicule or even bullyin. Loanwords in certain contexts are used as having a greater emotional expression than Standard language words.

Dictionary of composites: new empirical data

The article presents the results of the study of composites that have appeared in the Russian language in recent decades. The relevance of the research is due to the active process of replenishing in the class of composites, as well as a high interest in the study of their structure and semantics. We distinguish the binary structure of compound words (sometimes multicomponent) of varying degrees of solidity and offer four types of their classification. We also identify groups of composites by their thematic attribution.The material under study represents complex lexical units not previously recorded in the dictionaries and provides new empirical data.The material for the study was obtained from various sources: oral speech, fiction, advertising and journalistic texts, Internet resources - the article notes that the range of these words is genetically and structurally heterogeneous: today, the leading trend compared to the early period is the formation of a group of words in the Russian language according to a fixed analytical model: an attribute in the preposition plus a noun.Foreign-language components easily form new words and have high activity, enter into free syntagmatic relations. Such a feature – the presence of analytical neoplasms – is a consequence of the general trend of the modern Russian language – the growth of analyticism.The article notes that many complex words form combinations with a common component, thereby creating word-formation models, as well as single classes and word-formation fields.The functional status, the degree of assimilation of components, the ability to enter into syntagmatic relations, as well as the frequency and other characteristics of the words considered here are not similar. The article notes that the process of borrowing, which has moved to various functional areas, as well as the formation of new complex words according to the models considered in the article, contribute to the development and expansion of the lexical composition in the modern Russian language.

Sleep-dependent consolidation effects on foreign language word acquisition in a virtual reality environment.

Sleep-dependent consolidation is important for novel word learning, but previous studies have neglected the potential modulating role of learning environments. The present study examines sleep-dependent consolidation effects by comparing learning in a virtual reality (VR) environment and in a traditional picture-word (PW) environment. Two groups of Chinese-English bilinguals were randomly assigned to a VR or PW environment. In both learning environments, they learned novel words in Korean, a language with which they had no prior experience. All participants learned one set of novel words on Day 1 and another set on Day 2. An explicit recognition task and an implicit primed lexical-decision task were employed to measure sleep-dependent consolidation effects from the two environments. Results revealed sleep-dependent consolidation effects in both explicit and implicit measures, but only the primed lexical-decision task showed an influence of learning environment, suggesting that novel words learned via VR had better consolidation. Taken together, our findings suggest that a VR environment that fosters a rich sensory experience facilitates sleep-dependent consolidation effects. We argue that these results provide new evidence and implications for the complementary learning system (CLS) model.

“Sharp of taste”: the concept of acidity in the Greek system of natural explanation

Acidic substances were known for thousands of years, and their macroscopic-sensory characteristics were reflected by words in most ancient languages. In the Western canon, the history of the concept of acidity goes back to Ancient Greece. In Greek, the word associated with acidity from its early literary references was ὀξύς (“sharp”), and still in contemporary Greek the words “sour” and “acidic” have the same root. This paper makes a short presentation of the appearance of the abstract concept in the works of Plato and Aristotle and relates it, on one side to the already existing theological-philosophical tradition, starting with Hesiod´s Theogony and on the other, to the then available to the Greeks organoleptic experiences of sourness-vinegar and sour milk.

Probing the Meaning Loss in the Translation of Arabic Qur’ānic Connotative Words Into English: A Linguistic Semantic Perspective

Linguistic, cultural, and lexical knowledge is essential when rendering the Arabic Qur’ānic connotative words into English. The existing renderings show that the translation of Arabic Qur’ānic connotative meaning is an arduous task and presents sometimes insurmountable challenges. This study endeavored to probe the meaning loss in the translation of some selected Arabic Qur’ānic connotative words into English that is from linguistic and semantic perspectives by examining three notable translations of the Noble Qur’ān which have been extracted from The Qur’ānic Arabic Corpus. They are the works of Abdelhaleem (2004), Al- Hilali and Khan (1996) and Pickthall (1930). This study, which is qualitative descriptive in nature, utilized Nord's (2005) model of text analysis in translation. Findings showed that a literal or word-for-word rendering is not the appropriate method to use when translating the Arabic Qur’ānic connotative words into English. The semantic translation method may be more useful in conveying the connotations of The Noble Qur’ān into English and in coping with this phenomenon that is commonly met in the translations of the Arabic Qur’ānic connotative words, due to causes such as the dearth of equivalence of some connotative words in English language.

Index of Words in Hebrew and Other Ancient Languages

Index of Words in Hebrew and Other Ancient Languages

Cross-language semantic parafoveal preview benefits in bilinguals.

The aim of this project was to identify factors contributing to cross-language semantic preview benefits. In Experiment 1, Russian-English bilinguals read English sentences with Russian words presented as parafoveal previews. The gaze-contingent boundary paradigm was used to present sentences. Critical previews were cognate translations of the target word (CTAPT-START), noncognate translations (CPOK-TERM), or interlingual homograph translations (MOPE-SEA). A semantic preview benefit (i.e., shorter fixation durations for related than unrelated previews) was observed for cognate and interlingual homograph translations, but not for noncognate translations. In Experiment 2, English-French bilinguals read English sentences with French words used as parafoveal previews. Critical previews were interlingual homograph translations of the target word (PAIN-BREAD) or interlingual homograph translations with a diacritic added (PÁIN-BREAD). A robust semantic preview benefit was found only for interlingual homographs without diacritics, although both preview types produced a semantic preview benefit in the total fixation duration. Our findings suggest that semantically related previews need to have substantial orthographic overlap with words in the target language to produce cross-language semantic preview benefits in early eye fixation measures. In terms of the Bilingual Interactive Activation+ model, the preview word may need to activate the language node for the target language before its meaning is integrated with that of the target word. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Brain activation patterns of English language semantic processing in autistic groups

BackgroundAutism is a neurodevelopmental disorder, and there are certain differences in the brain activation patterns of English language semantic processing among autistic individuals. The research aims to explore the brain activation patterns of autistic groups during English semantic processing thus to enhance their understanding of language development.Subjects and MethodsThe study used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) technology, combined with the task paradigm of English word meaning processing, to study the brain activation patterns of individuals with autism. By comparing the differences in brain activation patterns between two groups in word meaning processing tasks, researchers attempted to reveal the specific neural mechanisms involved in language processing in autistic groups. At the same time, SPSS23.0 statistical software was used to process the data.ResultsThrough comparative experiments, the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA) score and Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) score of the experimental group were 7.53 and 31.24 respectively; The HAMA and GSES scores of the control group were 10.84 and 25.81, respectively. The results indicate that the processing of English language word meanings has a brain activation effect on people with autism.Conclusions Research can promote the understanding of the cognitive and neural mechanisms of autism, and contribute to improving daily communication and life quality for autistic groups.AcknowledgementThe Education Department of Hainan Province (No. Hnjgzc2022-121); The Education Department of Hainan Province (No. Hnjgw2022-13).

GESTALT WORDS

The article considers the conclusions of researchers about the image of the world, the system of meanings, the mentality and the culture of the nation as the subject of research. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the problem of Word formation from a scientific and cognitive point of view. The topic of the topic allows us to understand the basics of gestalt-linguistic semantics of a word (Language). The word is created with the help of cognition, being, action, concentration of the image of the world in thought, the formation of a certain concept.The article also explains that word formation is influenced by both cultural cognition and the mental process. That is, the gestalt of a word is an action, semantics, thought, concept, sound form, nominative - the integrity of everything. The article uses methods of contextual analysis, differentiation, content analysis, deductive, inductive, and generalization of research results. The article also describes the psycholinguistic essence of the language. The author emphasizes that a word (language) from a single sound to a text is the main discourse that has a gestalt character, conveys the picture of the world through language. The author of the article explains that this word is a generalized image of the world in consciousness captured at a single point; a nominative, semantic representation of the image of the world in consciousness. In conclusion, we note that the gestalt of the word as a whole is formed from the content of thought, which is concentrated in consciousness through various actions.

Эпосоведение

The article aims to analyze the linguistic specificity of interjections in the structure of a folklore text. The material used is the outstanding Yakut heroic epic olonkho Nyurgun Bootur the Swift, created by Platon Oyunsky. This epic was translated into the Bashkir language as part of the project “Publishing mutual translations of epics of the peoples of the world.” The objectives of the study are to identify interjections that are used in olonkho; in an effort to identify the grammatical and semantic features of interjections, the specifics of which are revealed when translating an epic work from Yakut to Bashkir. To solve the assigned problems, the main method used in the work is comparative analysis, as well as the functional-semantic method. With their help, the linguistic nuances of translation from one Turkic language to another are established, and it is found out by what means the original text is most adequately conveyed in translation. The relevance of the study is due to the need to study the linguistic possibilities of achieving adequacy or equivalence of the text when translating folk epic works from related languages, including taking into account the peculiarities of the translation of individual parts of speech. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time the interjections of the Bashkir and Yakut languages used in folklore texts are analyzed in the aspect of translation. Such a study contributes to a deeper comparative study of the functional-semantic capabilities of an entire thematically organized group of words in related languages, and helps to identify their genre linguistic identity inherent in specific languages. Interjections convey the feelings and emotional experiences of the characters in the work; they are classified into universal, understandable to all languages, common to Turkic languages, or specific (these make up the majority). The classification of interjections as non-equivalent vocabulary determined their transmission during the translation process through transcription, without grammatically changing the words, which ensures the preservation of the originality, national specificity and cultural flavor of the source text. The original, deeply national interjections used in olonkho help to recreate the unique world of olonkho, help to comprehend the deep secrets of the spiritual heritage of the Yakuts, and translation allows other peoples to touch the spiritual treasury of the people. The presented research has prospects for further study of the peculiarities of the functioning of parts of speech in the language of folklore.

Pseudo-Anglicism in Albanian Language

Anglicisms in the Albanian language is a domain not much and sufficiently frequented by Albanian linguists; false anglicisms or Pseudo-anglicisms are much less. Therefore, the focus of this paper is primarily the identification of Anglicisms and Pseudo-anglicisms in the Albanian language, how we distinguish and provide the ground for drawing the line between these two different but interconnected categories, and then introducing and analyzing several examples of Pseudo-anglicisms in Albanian. Transformations of English loans or the native words (in terms of morphological, semantic, orthographic, phonetic, etc., features) or the coinage of new words in the Albanian language under the influence of English language (the resemblance to English being the only connection to English language) are processes that produce the so-called ‘false loans’ or ‘Pseudo-anglicisms’. Pseudo-anglicisms in Albanian can not be studied separately from other European languages as they share most of their features with Pseudo-anglicisms in French, Italian, Spanish, German, etc.

Decomposition of meaning in translation of cultural terms in the novel Alfu Laylah Wa Laylah into Indonesian

The This study is objected to describe the decomposition of meaning that includes distortion, narrowing and expansion as well as omissions in the translation of cultural terms in a novel titled alfu laylah wa laylah along with their impact on target text. This research utilized a descriptive method with a qualitative research approach. The data collection method used in several stages, as follow: 1) reading the entire contents of the novel; 2) identifying; 3) recording and; 4) giving code and page on each data. The data were subsequently analyzed in several steps including 1) classifying the types of cultural terms in the novel; 2) identifying the meaning of cultural terms in source language and target language; 3) comparing two words in source language and target language; 4) interpreting the findings in form of analysis. It was 29 data found, there were seven cultural terms that experience meaning distortion, twelve with narrowing and expansion of meaning, and ten others underwent omission. In conclusion, four factors of information reduction result in loss.

A study of Japanese language sense and evaluation based on the basic structure of sentence S-V-O

Abstract Linguistic sense is the ability to perceive language words directly, and the study of Japanese linguistic sense can provide a better understanding of the culture behind the Japanese language. By analyzing the combination of verbal information, intellectual skills, and cognitive strategies in a broad view of knowledge, this paper proposes a mental mechanism model of language sense based on adaptive control of thinking-rationality and formulates generative rules based on the intrinsic linkage of declarative and procedural knowledge. Based on the basic structure of sentence S-V-O, the structure of linguistic rules is generated, thus proposing a mechanism for the generation of the Japanese language sense. In terms of connectivity, the correlation between Japanese kanji vocabulary and Japanese culture is rated at 0.986, and the older generation even believes that there is a power of belief in Japanese kanji. In terms of linguistic deconstruction, the influence weight quartile range of lexemes in word sense evaluation was [66.4%, 73.6%], while the lower quartile of sentence prefixes and suffixes reached 78.2% and the upper quartile was located at 85.7%. The present study contributes further to the study of Japanese language evaluation by dismantling the mechanism of the Japanese language since production from a cognitive-psychological perspective, as language learning and cultural enhancement of understanding are essential.

A CASE FOR EMPHATIC PARTICLES IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The article investigates the issue of whether emphatic particles exist in the English language as well as looks into the ways of distinguishing these particles from similar phenomena including discourse markers and function words. Though particles cannot always be easily identified among other parts of speech, emphatic particles are quite distinct from other types of particles presented in grammar studies - structural, negative or adverbial ones - as well as discourse markers. To clarify the point, the authors dwell on the emphatic particles of the Russian language in order to highlight their main purpose - they help the speaker convey the full message to the addressee without adding any semantic connotations to an utterance. Thus, emphatic particles, along with other discursive elements, are used by the speaker to carry out a complex and multidimensional operation of controlling the understanding of the text on the part of the addressee. As emphatic particles fall into three functional classes - attention markers, background information markers, topic and focus markers - the paper provides a frame for presenting their semantic composition in lexicographic sources. Another objective is to distinguish between discourse markers, discourse particles and emphatic particles in the English language. As various languages prefer different parts of speech as the source of producing particles (prepositions, adverbs, interjections, etc.), there is great terminological variability in the number and purpose of particles used in communication. The findings reveal that in the English language words that are not essentially emphatic particles, such as adverbials or compound discourse particles derived from idiomatic word combinations, often perform the emphatic function. The outcome of the research proves the hypothesis that the English words ‘just’, ‘simply’ and some others are equal to Russian emphatic particles.

Emotional Prototypicality Ratings for 636 Chinese Words: A Database of Chinese Words with Affective Information

Exemplars of concepts vary in their degree of prototypicality. This is also true for emotion concepts. This study presents prototypicality ratings for a large set of Chinese words. The database contains 636 potential Chinese emotion words (i.e., words that directly express particular emotions, like “高兴 happy” and “哀愁 sad”), from different grammatical categories. Native Chinese speakers rated the words in terms of emotional prototypicality. The database also contains values for valence, arousal, and emotionality. The analyses of the ratings revealed that 502 out of 636 words had a high prototypicality value (value equal to or above three on a 1-to-5 scale), the most prototypical words being negative and high-arousal words. The analyses also indicated that the emotional prototypicality of a word was positively related to both arousal and emotionality, and negatively related to valence. Among these variables, arousal was the most important contributor. Similar results have been found in studies conducted in other languages. This will be a useful resource for researchers interested in studying emotion words in the Chinese language and for those interested in cross-linguistic comparisons.

Morpheme-Based Neural Machine Translation Models for Low-Resource Fusion Languages

Neural approaches, which are currently state-of-the-art in many areas, have contributed significantly to the exciting advancements in machine translation. However, Neural Machine Translation (NMT) requires a substantial quantity and good quality parallel training data to train the best model. A large amount of training data, in turn, increases the underlying vocabulary exponentially. Therefore, several proposed methods have been devised for relatively limited vocabulary due to constraints of computing resources such as system memory. Encoding words as sequences of subword units for so-called open-vocabulary translation is an effective strategy for solving this problem. However, the conventional methods for splitting words into subwords focus on statistics-based approaches that mainly conform to agglutinative languages. In these languages, the morphemes have relatively clean boundaries. These methods still need to be thoroughly investigated for their applicability to fusion languages, which is the main focus of this article. Phonological and orthographic processes alter the borders of constituent morphemes of a word in fusion languages. Therefore, it makes it difficult to distinguish the actual morphemes that carry syntactic or semantic information from the word’s surface form, the form of the word as it appears in the text. We, thus, resorted to a word segmentation method that segments words by restoring the altered morphemes. We also compared conventional and morpheme-based NMT subword models. We could prove that morpheme-based models outperform conventional subword models on a benchmark dataset.