Smartphone ownership and usage in Chinese‐ and English‐speaking older adults

Abstract Objective The objective of this study is to provide normative data for a tablet-based dual-task assessment in older adults without cognitive deficits. Method In total, 264 participants aged between 60 and 90 years, French and English-speaking, were asked to perform two discrimination tasks, alone and concurrently. The participants had to answer as fast as possible to one or two images appearing in the center of the tablet by pressing to the corresponding buttons. Normative data are provided for reaction time (RT), coefficient of variation, and accuracy. Analyses of variance were performed by trial types (single-pure, single-mixed, dual-mixed), and linear regressions assessed the relationship between performance and sociodemographic characteristics. Results The participants were highly educated and a large proportion of them were women (73.9%). The accuracy on the task was very high across all blocks. RT data revealed both a task-set cost and a dual-task cost between the blocks. Age was associated with slower RT and with higher coefficient of variability. Men were significantly slower on dual-mixed trials, but their coefficient of variability was lower on single-pure trials. Education was not associated with performance. Conclusions This study provides normative data for a tablet-based dual-task assessment in older adults without cognitive impairment, which was lacking. All participants completed the task with good accuracy in less than 15 minutes and thus, the task is transferable to clinical and research settings.

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A Contrastive Analysis of Chinese Humor and English Humor in Intercultural Communication

Theory and Practice in Language Studies ◽

10.17507/tpls.0912.17 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (12) ◽

pp. 1595

Author(s):

Sha Zhu

Keyword(s):

Interpersonal Communication ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Cultural Communication ◽

Contrastive Analysis ◽

Cultural Backgrounds ◽

Cross Cultural Communication ◽

Transcultural Communication ◽

Figure Of Speech ◽

English Speaking ◽

Chinese And English

Humor plays an important role in daily life and also quite useful in interpersonal communication. Nowadays, the cross-cultural communication between the English-speaking countries and China becomes more and more frequent while some humor is difficult to appreciate with diverse cultural backgrounds. Therefore, this paper aims at analyzing the Chinese and English humor from their similarities, like the use of ambiguity and figure of speech, as well as differences, especially in functions, topics and ways of expression. Related causes are further discussed the differences. Hopefully, the findings will help to reduce the obstacles in understanding humor in different culture and promote transcultural communication in a delightful manner.

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Completing Self-administered Questionnaires: Hmong Older Adults and Their Family Helpers

Field Methods ◽

10.1177/1525822x19893666 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 32 (3) ◽

pp. 253-273

Author(s):

Maichou Lor ◽

Nora Cate Schaeffer ◽

Roger L. Brown ◽

Barbara J. Bowers

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Data Quality ◽

Future Research ◽

Computer Assisted ◽

Video Recordings ◽

English Speaking ◽

Interview Instrument ◽

Audio Computer ◽

The Impact ◽

Answering Questions

This study describes a method for collecting data from nonliterate, non-English-speaking populations. Our audio computer-assisted self-interview instrument with color-labeled response categories was designed for use with helper assistance. The study included 30 dyads of nonliterate older Hmong respondents and family helpers answering questions about health. Analysis of video recordings identified respondents’ problems and helpers’ strategies to address these problems. Seven dyads displayed the paradigmatic question–answer sequence for all items, while 23 departed from the paradigmatic sequence at least once. Reports and pauses were the most common signs of problems displayed by respondents. Paraphrasing questions or response categories and providing examples were the most common helper strategies. Future research could assess the impact of helpers’ strategies on data quality.

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Parental numeric language input to Mandarin Chinese and English speaking preschool children

Journal of Child Language ◽

10.1017/s0305000909990390 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 38 (2) ◽

pp. 341-355 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

ALICIA CHANG ◽

CATHERINE M. SANDHOFER ◽

LAUREN ADELCHANOW ◽

BENJAMIN ROTTMAN

Keyword(s):

Preschool Children ◽

Mandarin Chinese ◽

Mathematical Performance ◽

English Speaking ◽

Language Input ◽

Chinese And English ◽

Syntactic Frames ◽

Preschool Aged Children

ABSTRACTThe present study examined the number-specific parental language input to Mandarin- and English-speaking preschool-aged children. Mandarin and English transcripts from the CHILDES database were examined for amount of numeric speech, specific types of numeric speech and syntactic frames in which numeric speech appeared. The results showed that Mandarin-speaking parents talked about number more frequently than English-speaking parents. Further, the ways in which parents talked about number terms in the two languages was more supportive of a cardinal interpretation in Mandarin than in English. We discuss these results in terms of their implications for numerical understanding and later mathematical performance.

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Help-seeking characteristics of Chinese- and English-speaking Australians accessing Internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy for depression

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology ◽

10.1007/s00127-014-0956-3 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 50 (1) ◽

pp. 89-97 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Isabella Choi ◽

Gavin Andrews ◽

Louise Sharpe ◽

Caroline Hunt

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Behavioural Therapy ◽

Cognitive Behavioural ◽

English Speaking ◽

Chinese And English

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When speech is ambiguous, gesture steps in: Sensitivity to discourse-pragmatic principles in early childhood

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716409990221 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 209-224 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

WING CHEE SO ◽

ÖZLEM ECE DEMIR ◽

SUSAN GOLDIN-MEADOW

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Young Children ◽

Referring Expressions ◽

Second Person ◽

Null Arguments ◽

Information Status ◽

Third Person ◽

English Speaking ◽

Referential Expressions ◽

Chinese And English

ABSTRACTYoung children produce gestures to disambiguate arguments. This study explores whether the gestures they produce are constrained by discourse-pragmatic principles: person and information status. We ask whether children use gesture more often to indicate the referents that have to be specified (i.e., third person and new referents) than the referents that do not have to be specified (i.e., first or second person and given referents). Chinese- and English-speaking children were videotaped while interacting spontaneously with adults, and their speech and gestures were coded for referential expressions. We found that both groups of children tended to use nouns when indicating third person and new referents but pronouns or null arguments when indicating first or second person and given referents. They also produced gestures more often when indicating third person and new referents, particularly when those referents were ambiguously conveyed by less explicit referring expressions (pronouns, null arguments). Thus Chinese- and English-speaking children show sensitivity to discourse-pragmatic principles not only in speech but also in gesture.

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Insight into the structure of compound words among speakers of Chinese and English

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716411000555 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 33 (4) ◽

pp. 753-779 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

JIE ZHANG ◽

RICHARD C. ANDERSON ◽

QIUYING WANG ◽

JEROME PACKARD ◽

XINCHUN WU ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sixth Graders ◽

Compound Word ◽

English Speakers ◽

Compound Words ◽

Chinese Speakers ◽

Word Structure ◽

English Speaking ◽

Noun Compounds ◽

Chinese And English ◽

Insight Into

ABSTRACTKnowledge of compound word structures in Chinese and English was investigated, comparing 435 Chinese and 258 Americans, including second, fourth, and sixth graders, and college undergraduates. As anticipated, the results revealed that Chinese speakers performed better on a word structure analogy task than their English-speaking counterparts. Also, as anticipated, speakers of both languages performed better on noun + noun and verb + particle compounds, which are more productive in their respective languages than noun + verb and verb + noun compounds, which are less productive. Both Chinese and English speakers performed significantly better on novel compounds than on familiar compounds, most likely because familiar compounds are lexicalized and do not invite decomposition into constituents.

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ASYMMETRY OF NULL SUBJECTS AND NULL OBJECTS IN CHINESE SPEAKERS' L2 ENGLISH

Studies in Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1017/s0272263197004038 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 467-497 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Boping Yuan

Keyword(s):

Null Subjects ◽

L2 Acquisition ◽

Null Subject ◽

Chinese Speakers ◽

Null Objects ◽

Null Object ◽

Chinese Learners ◽

English Speaking ◽

L1 Acquisition ◽

Chinese And English

One of the differences between Chinese and English is that the former allows both null subjects in finite sentences and null objects, but the latter allows neither. This cross-linguistic variation is believed to be related to the underspecification of I and topic drop in Chinese but not in English. This paper reports on an empirical study investigating the unlearning of null subjects and null objects by 159 Chinese learners in their L2 acquisition of English. In L1 acquisition, it has been found that English-speaking children display an asymmetry by frequently allowing null subjects but rarely null objects. The results of this study indicate that there is an asymmetry in Chinese learners' L2 English, which, however, is opposite to that found in English L1 acquisition: Chinese learners are able to reject the incorrect null subject in English, but unable to detect the ungrammaticality of the null object. It is proposed that the unlearning of null subjects by Chinese learners of English is triggered by the evidence in their input indicating the specification of AGR(eement) and T(ense) in English, and that the difficulty in the unlearning of null objects is related to the lack of informative evidence to unset the [+ topic-drop] setting in Chinese learners' L2 English.

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Sinophiles between Flatland, Fetish, and Feuilleton

British Journal of Chinese Studies ◽

10.51661/bjocs.v10i0.104 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

Author(s):

Nick Stember

Keyword(s):

Chinese Studies ◽

The World ◽

English Speaking ◽

Chinese And English

Despite (or because of) the increasingly fraught relationship between the Chinese and English-speaking parts of the world, Chinese studies today finds itself blessed with a wealth of voices, both within academia and without. The author argues that it is this aspiration toward a plurality of perspectives, rather than the seductive illusion of One Right Answer for All and for All Time, that best encapsulates the value of Chinese studies in the Covid-19 pandemic, or in any other time.

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