Spanish imperfect subjunctive form –se

This paper analyzes use of and linguistic attitudes toward the Spanish imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive –se form (e.g., tuviese ‘had’ and hubiese tenido ‘had had’, respectively). The study consists of two phases, P1 and P2. P1 is quantitative in nature and focuses on production of the form; P2 is qualitative in nature and centers on linguistic attitudes associated with –se. P1 data come from 24 Spanish speakers and a semi-controlled oral/written interview. P2 data are from 15 Spanish speakers and a questionnaire. Chi-square results were significant for nationality, i.e., Spaniards used the –se form significantly more than Latin Americans. Sex, modality (oral/written), syntactic context, and verb type were all found insignificant. Qualitative comments from P2 suggest an overall negative association with the –se form. A somewhat weak relationship between the form and Spanish nationality emerged from the Latin American cohort, but not strong enough to suggest a definitive stereotype.

Encoding of speech in convolutional layers and the brain stem based on language experience

Comparing artificial neural networks (ANNs) with outputs of brain imaging techniques has recently seen substantial advances in (computer) vision and text-based language models. Here, we propose a framework to compare biological and artificial neural computations of spoken language representations and propose several new challenges to this paradigm. Using a technique proposed by Begus and Zhou (2021b), we can analyze encoding of any acoustic property in intermediate convolutional layers of an artificial neural network. This allows us to test similarities in speech encoding between the brain and artificial neural networks in a way that is more interpretable than the majority of existing proposals that focus on correlations and supervised models. We introduce fully unsupervised deep generative models (the Generative Adversarial Network architecture) trained on raw speech to the brain-and-ANN-comparison paradigm, which enable testing of both the production and perception principles in human speech. We present a framework that parallels electrophysiological experiments measuring complex Auditory Brainstem Response (cABR) in human brain with intermediate layers in deep convolutional networks. We compared peak latency in cABR relative to the stimulus in the brain stem experiment, and in intermediate convolutional layers relative to the input/output in deep convolutional networks. We also examined and compared the effect of prior language exposure on the peak latency in cABR, and in intermediate convolutional layers of a phonetic property. Specifically, the phonetic property (i.e., VOT =10 ms) is perceived differently by English vs. Spanish speakers as voiced (e.g. [ba]) vs voiceless (e.g. [pa]). Critically, the cABR peak latency to the VOT phonetic property is different between English and Spanish speakers, and peak latency in intermediate convolutional layers is different between English-trained and Spanish-trained computational models. Substantial similarities in peak latency encoding between the human brain and intermediate convolutional networks emerge based on results from eight trained networks (including a replication experiment). The proposed technique can be used to compare encoding between the human brain and intermediate convolutional layers for any acoustic property.

There Are No Spanish-Speaking Therapists Here

This chapter involves the issues in the creation of a bilingual and culturally competent psychological clinic in a university town in a southern state in the United States known as one of the most Latinx immigrant hostile states in the country. Prior to the creation of the clinic, there were virtually no options for Spanish speakers for culturally or linguistically competent psychological services, and the population of bilingual/bicultural graduate students in psychology and the college of education was very low. This chapter is written from the perspective of the faculty founder of the clinic and the women who have served as clinic coordinators and sacrificed much time and energy in addition to their significant program requirements so that the local Latinx immigration could have linguistically and culturally competent psychological services. Thus, this chapter will blend the available research literature with the experiences of creating and running a clinic that supports many Latinx immigrant students and their families.

Dar ánimo en tiempos de pandemia. Estrategias discursivo-interaccionales utilizadas en los comentarios a los testimonios de los enfermos de Covid-19

The aim of this article is to analyse the discourse-interactive strategies applied by Spanish speakers in YouTube comments addressed to people infected by COVID-19. We are especially interested in the mechanisms that reflect support and solidarity. Our main assumption is that the comments that accompany YouTube videos constitute a special type of communication which, though not fulfilling the prototypical principle of “interactive reciprocity”, demonstrates a considerable level of interpersonal and interactive mutual influence. The strategies analysed (including greetings, expressive vocative forms, verbal empathy and signals of interest, compliments and praise, religious invocations, etc.) seem to indicate that the “pandemic reality” has contributed to the creation of a certain type of virtual community of practice that, in its own way, fulfils the interactive principle of solidarity, whilst simultaneously evaluating the time of the coronavirus epidemic.

A 3-Item Measure of Digital Healthcare Literacy: Development and Validation (Preprint)

BACKGROUND With increased reliance on digital healthcare, including telehealth, efficient and effective ways are needed to assess patients’ comfort and confidence with utilizing these services. OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to develop and validate a brief scale that assesses digital healthcare literacy. METHODS We first developed an item pool using the existing literature and expert review. We then administered the items to participants as part of a larger study. Participants were caregivers of children receiving care at a pediatric clinic who completed a survey either online or over the phone. We randomized participants into a development and confirmatory sample stratifying by language so that exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) could be performed with a separate sample of participants. We assessed the scale’s validity by examining its associations with participants’ demographics, digital access, and prior digital healthcare use. RESULTS Participants (N=507) were, on average, aged 33.7 (SD 7.7) years and 89% female. Approximately half (55%) preferred English as their primary language, 31% preferred Spanish, and 14% Arabic. Around half (45%) had a high school degree or less and 45% had an annual household income less than US $35,000. Using the EFA, three items were retained in a reduced score with excellent reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.90) and a high variance explained (78%). The reduced scale had excellent CFA fit with factor loadings between 0.82 and 0.94. All fit statistics exceeded the criteria for good fit between the proposed factor structure and the data. We refer to this scale as the Digital Healthcare Literacy Scale (DHLS). The scale was positively associated with education (ρ =0.139, p=.005) and income (ρ =0.379, p<.001). Arabic speakers had lower scores compared to English (p<.001) and Spanish speakers (p=.015), and Spanish speakers had lower scores relative to English speakers (p<.001). Participants who did not own a smartphone (p=0.13) or laptop (p<.001) had lower scores than those who did own these devices. Finally, participants who had not used digital tools, including health apps (p<.001) and video telehealth (p<.001), had lower scores than those who had. CONCLUSIONS Despite the potential for digital healthcare to improve quality of life and clinical outcomes, many individuals may not have the skills to engage with and benefit from it. Moreover, these individuals may be those who already experience worse outcomes. A screening tool like DHLS could be a useful resource to identify patients who require additional assistance to use digital health services and help ensure health equity. CLINICALTRIAL N/A

Time as space vs. time as quantity in Spanish: a co-speech gesture study

There is a distinction between languages that use the duration is length metaphor, like English (e.g., long time), and languages like Spanish that conceptualise time using the duration is quantity metaphor (e.g., much time). The present study examines the use of both metaphors, exploring their multimodal behaviour in Spanish speakers. We analyse co-speech gesture patterns in the TV news setting, using data from the NewsScape Library, that co-occur with expressions that trigger the duration is quantity construal (e.g., durante todo ‘during the whole’) and the duration is length construal in the from X to Y construction (e.g., desde el principio hasta el final ‘from beginning to end’). Results show that both metaphors tend to co-occur with a semantic gesture, with a preference for the lateral axis, as reported in previous studies. However, our data also indicate that the direction of the gesture changes depending on the construal. The duration is quantity metaphor tends to be performed with gestures with an outwards direction, in contrast with the duration is length construal, which employ a left-to-right directionality. These differences in gesture realisation point to the existence of different construals for the concept of temporal duration.

Spanish adaptation of the Ambivalent Classism Inventory (ACI)

Introduction: Hostile and benevolent classism influence the derogation of poor people and groups, with negative consequences. The present study aims to adapt and validate the Ambivalent Classism Inventory (ACI) to obtain an adequate tool for expanding research on this topic among the Spanish-speaking population. Method: Toward this end, the researchers back-translated the ACI version originally developed for English speakers. Exploratory and confirmatory analyses verify the ACI’s reliability and factor structure with a sample of Mexican participants. Results: The results demonstrated that the adapted scale’s psychometric properties are acceptable. Its original and factor structure are similar to those of the original scale:hostile classism (12 items), protective paternalism (4 items), and complementary class differentiation (4 items). Furthermore, the study tests the convergent and divergent validity of the scale´s sub-dimensions concerning other ideological and socioeconomic variables. Conclusion:The proposed ACI adaptation should contribute to understanding attitudes toward the poor as well as their consequences among Spanish speakers.