Expanding the boundaries of Asian linguistics

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Bernard Comrie ◽  
Raoul Zamponi
Keyword(s):  
Body Part ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Andaman Islands ◽  
Linguistic Typology ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Range Of Variation

Abstract While the general lines of the areal linguistic typology of Asia are well known, there are some less well understood pockets that promise to throw light on the overall range of variation within the continent. These include the indigenous languages of the Andaman Islands, which have for much of history stood apart from the population and language spreads that have characterized most of Asia. They fall into two families: Great Andamanese – the focus of this article – and Ongan. In some respects Great Andamanese languages go with the bulk of Asia, e.g. verb-final constituent order, but other aspects even of constituent order represent a mixture that matches neither the general Asian head-final type nor the Southeast Asian head-initial type. Some properties of Great Andamanese are typologically unusual, but do find presumably accidental parallels in languages spoken inside Asia, e.g. retroflex consonants, or elsewhere, e.g. body-part prefixes and verb root ellipsis.

Proprioceptive-state expressions in Thai

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shoichi Iwasaki
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Body Part ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Distributional Pattern ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Physical Strength ◽  
Intransitive Verb ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Asian Languages

While the structure consisting of a topic and a clausal comment, often referred to as the double-topic, double-subject, or double-nominative sentence, has been discussed in the literature, the internal constituent order within the comment has rarely been a target of study of linguistic typology. The purpose of the paper is to compare two constituent order possibilities found in Thai and other Southeast Asian languages to argue specific constructional meanings associated with them. In Thai, the topic with a clausal comment is used when a body-part is involved, and it may take the form of either [ N1 [ N2 V ]] or [ N1 [ V N2 ]]. In this structure, the topic (N1) is a possessor of N2 (= body-part), and the comment is a clause consisting of an intransitive verb (V) and a body-part noun (N2). These two constituent orders are distributed between the external-state and proprioceptive (internal) state. Thus physical sensations (e.g. “I have a headache”) and emotions (e.g. “I am sad”) are expressed with the [VN] structure in the comment, while the description of external-states such as physical appearances (e.g. “My head is big”) is expressed with [NV]. Since proprioceptive states can only be experienced directly by the experiencer himself and contrast with external states which can be observed by anyone, the constituent order reflects fundamentally different cognitive realities experienced by the speaker. I claim that the [VN] order has a structural meaning of “proprioceptively registered experience” in the Thai grammar. This explains further why some other internal events such as “recovering from cold” or “exhausting one’s physical strength” which do not directly involve body parts also take the [VN] order in the comment. I will also argue that the initial noun (N1) in the proprioceptive-state expression is a topic noun added to the more fundamental topicless structure, [VN], whereas the initial noun in the external-state description is an integral part of the basic argument structure. Finally, I will situate the distributional pattern of [VN] and [NV] found in Thai among other East and Southeast Asian languages.

Spanish in Contact with South-American Languages, with Special Emphasis on Andean and Paraguayan Spanish

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Zúñiga
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
National Standards ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
South American ◽  
Semantic Fields ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Systemic Impact ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
American Spanish

The effect of indigenous languages of South America on Spanish is strongest in the lexicon (especially with toponyms, zoonyms, and phytonyms) and identifiable, but much more modest, in phonetics/phonology (e.g., vowel variability and reduction and nasalization) and morphosyntax (e.g., the different use of selected verb forms and constituent order). The phenomena called Media Lengua and Yopará differ from this picture in that the former roughly consists of a Spanish lexicon combined with Quechua grammar, while the latter is a fluid Guaraní-based system with numerous borrowings from Spanish. The effects of contact are socially and areally variable, with low-prestige, typically rural, varieties of South American Spanish showing the most significant systemic impact, while high-prestige, typically urban, varieties (including the national standards) show little more than lexical borrowings in the semantic fields mentioned. This result is hardly surprising, due to historical/sociolinguistic factors (which often led to situations of dominance and language shift) and to the typological dissimilarities between Spanish and the indigenous languages (which typically hinders borrowing, especially of morphological elements).

scholarly journals Sports Injury and Illness Epidemiology: Thailand Team Surveillance During the 30th Southeast Asian Games

2022 ◽  
Vol In Press (In Press) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kotchakorn Jumroenketpratheep ◽  
Htet Zayar ◽  
Kittinad Kaewkul ◽  
Kornkit Chaijenkij
Keyword(s):  
Injury Prevention ◽  
Respiratory Illness ◽  
Body Part ◽  
Lower Leg ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Medical Attention ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
National Team ◽  
Limb Injuries ◽  
Sport Events

Background: Injury and illness surveillance in sports is the first step of the injury prevention model that generates effective injury prevention measures. Objectives: To identify the incidence, severity, and causes of injuries and illness in the Thailand national team during the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. Methods: All medical encounters were documented using the International Olympic Committee (IOC) injury and illness surveillance system for multi-sport events. We recorded the daily occurrence of injuries and illnesses reported by Thailand’s medical teams over the 12 days of the competition period. Results: Among 980 Thai athletes (568 male and 412 female), that participated in the 30th SEA Games, a total of 105 injuries and illnesses were reported. There were 84 injuries and 21 illnesses which equated to an incidence of 86 injuries and 21 illnesses per 1000 athletes. The most commonly injured body part was the lower leg (14% of all injuries), followed by the shoulder and clavicle. Ligament sprain or rupture and contusion (25% of all injuries) were reported as the most common type of injury. Of all injuries, 56 were classified as needing medical attention (only), 26 caused performance restriction, and two caused complete-time loss. The most common athlete illness was respiratory illness (48% of all illnesses) followed by gastrointestinal illness (19% of all illnesses). One-third (7 out of 21) of athlete illnesses restricted the athlete's performance, and the remaining 14 only required medical attention. Conclusions: Overall, 8% of athletes incurred at least one injury during the competition, and 2% suffered from an illness. Lower leg injury and respiratory illness were the most common, which is similar to other multi-sport events. Based on the research data, injury prevention, especially of ligamentous sprain and lower limb injuries, should be the focus in multi-sport events.

scholarly journals Resurrecting the Linguistic Past

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 01-20
Author(s):  
Bernard Comrie ◽  
Raoul Zamponi
Keyword(s):  
Word Reading ◽  
Body Part ◽  
The Other ◽  
Conceptual Basis ◽  
Andaman Islands ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Semantic Extension ◽  
Lexical Structure ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Whole Word

Akabea belongs to the Great Andamanese family, one of the two indigenous language families of the Andaman Islands. All that remains today of this family is a handful of “rememberers” of so-called Present-day Great Andamanese, based on the language furthest removed from Akabea. None of the traditional languages was the subject of professional linguistic documentation or analysis. However, two government officials collected extensive material, with Akabea being the language most thoroughly treated. Neither was a trained linguist, and one might wonder whether anything reliable can be derived from their documentation. We have worked in detail with the Akabea material, and conclude that while there are obvious gaps (e.g. in the phonetics), the overall picture is that of a very consistent and elaborate grammatical and lexical structure. We present two typologically unusual features of Akabea. One relates to the conceptual basis of the language’s lexicon, which makes extensive use of somatic (body-part) prefixes, e.g. Akabea aka- ‘mouth’. These are sometimes used literally (as in the word for ‘mouth’), sometimes by semantic extension (e.g. in words relating to food and speech). The other concerns an unusual grammatical feature of the language, namely verb root ellipsis. In English, it is possible to omit verbs under appropriate pragmatic conditions, e.g. in response to Is he reading? one can answer Yes, he is, with omission of the whole word reading, but not *Yes, he is -ing, with omission of just the root read. Precisely this bizarre non-existent English type is what is attested in Akabea.

scholarly journals Desmotheca (Orthotrichaceae): Gondwanan fragmentation and the origin of a Southeast Asian genus

1990 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale H. Vitt
Keyword(s):  
New Caledonia ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Andaman Islands

Desmotheca Lindberg was proposed in 1872 as a replacement name for the illegitimate Cryptocarpon Dozy & Molk. (1844) and Cryptocarpus Dozy & Molk. (1846). Seven names have been placed in these genera, from which two species appear to be taxonomically valid. Desmotheca apiculata (Dozy & Molk.) Card. occurs from New Caledonia and New Guinea west to Indonesia and the Andaman Islands, north to Burma, Thailand, Vietnam and Mindanao in the Philippines, while D. brachiata (Hook. & Wils.) Vitt comb. nova is restricted to the island of Luzon in the Philippines. The evolution and dispersal of this genus can be related to the northward movement of Gondwanan island blocks during the Cretaceous.

Crosslinguistic Corpus Studies in Linguistic Typology

2022 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-191
Author(s):  
Stefan Schnell ◽  
Nils Norman Schiborr
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Linguistic Typology ◽  
The Core ◽  
Text Production ◽  
Corpus Studies ◽  
Patterns Of Use ◽  
The Future ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Core Idea ◽  
Diachronic Development

Corpus-based studies have become increasingly common in linguistic typology over recent years, amounting to the emergence of a new field that we call corpus-based typology. The core idea of corpus-based typology is to take languages as populations of utterances and to systematically investigate text production across languages in this sense. From a usage-based perspective, investigations of variation and preferences of use are at the core of understanding the distribution of conventionalized structures and their diachronic development across languages. Specific findings of corpus-based typological studies pertain to universals of text production, for example, in prosodic partitioning; to cognitive biases constraining diverse patterns of use, for example, in constituent order; and to correlations of diverse patterns of use with language-specific structures and conventions. We also consider remaining challenges for corpus-based typology, in particular the development of crosslinguistically more representative corpora that include spoken (or signed) texts, and its vast potential in the future.

Behavioral Factors Impact Impairment and Disability Evaluation

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 5-7
Author(s):  
Lee Ensalada
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
Somatoform Disorders ◽  
Disability Evaluation ◽  
Body Part ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Illness Behavior ◽  
Validity Testing ◽  
Symptom Validity Testing ◽  
Disease Pattern

Abstract Illness behavior refers to the ways in which symptoms are perceived, understood, acted upon, and communicated and include facial grimacing, holding or supporting the affected body part, limping, using a cane, and stooping while walking. Illness behavior can be unconscious or conscious: In the former, the person is unaware of the mental processes and content that are significant in determining behavior; conscious illness behavior may be voluntary and conscious (the two are not necessarily associated). The first broad category of inappropriate illness behavior is defensiveness, which is characterized by denial or minimization of symptoms. The second category includes somatoform disorders, factitious disorders, and malingering and is characterized by exaggerating, fabricating, or denying symptoms; minimizing capabilities or positive traits; or misattributing actual deficits to a false cause. Evaluators can detect the presence of inappropriate illness behaviors based on evidence of consistency in the history or examination; the likelihood that the reported symptoms make medical sense and fit a reasonable disease pattern; understanding of the patient's current situation, personal and social history, and emotional predispositions; emotional reactions to symptoms; evaluation of nonphysiological findings; results obtained using standardized test instruments; and tests of dissimulation, such as symptom validity testing. Unsupported and insupportable conclusions regarding inappropriate illness behavior represent substandard practice in view of the importance of these conclusions for the assessment of impairment or disability.

Letter to the Editor: The Continuing Challenge of Evaluating RSD Impairment and Disability

1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 8-10
Author(s):  
Robert L. Knobler ◽  
Charles N. Brooks ◽  
Leon H. Ensalada ◽  
James B. Talmage ◽  
Christopher R. Brigham
Keyword(s):  
Disability Evaluation ◽  
Body Part ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Regulatory Requirements ◽  
Major Cardiac Event ◽  
Clinical Scenarios ◽  
Impairment Score ◽  
Occupational Activities ◽  
The Difference

Abstract The author of the two-part article about evaluating reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) responds to criticisms that a percentage impairment score may not adequately reflect the disability of an individual with RSD. The author highlights the importance of recognizing the difference between impairment and disability in the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides): impairment is the loss, loss of use, or derangement of any body part, system, or function; disability is a decrease in or the loss or absence of the capacity to meet personal, social, or occupational demands or to meet statutory or regulatory requirements because of an impairment. The disparity between impairment and disability can be encountered in diverse clinical scenarios. For example, a person's ability to resume occupational activities following a major cardiac event depends on medical, social, and psychological factors, but nonmedical factors appear to present the greatest impediment and many persons do not resume work despite significant improvements in functional capacity. A key requirement according to the AMA Guides is objective documentation, and the author agrees that when physicians consider the disability evaluation of people, more issues than those relating to the percentage loss of function should be considered. More study of the relationships among impairment, disability, and quality of life in patients with RSD are required.

How Sexual Objectification Generates Dehumanization in Western and Eastern Cultures

2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Wollast ◽  
Elisa Puvia ◽  
Philippe Bernard ◽  
Passagorn Tevichapong ◽  
Olivier Klein
Keyword(s):  
Social Perception ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Objectification Theory ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Sexual Objectification ◽  
Intense Pain ◽  
Eastern Cultures ◽  
Theory Research ◽  
Self Objectification ◽  
Asian Sample

Abstract. Ever since Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) proposed objectification theory, research on self-objectification and – by extension – other-objectification has experienced a considerable expansion. However, most of the studies on sexual objectification have been conducted solely in Western populations. This study investigates whether the effect of target sexualization on social perception differs as a function of culture (Western vs. Eastern). Specifically, we asked a Western sample (Belgian, N = 62) and a Southeast Asian sample (Thai, N = 98) to rate sexualized versus nonsexualized targets. We found that sexual objectification results in dehumanization in both Western (Belgium) and Eastern (Thailand) cultures. Specifically, participants from both countries attributed less competence and less agency to sexualized than to nonsexualized targets, and they reported that they would administer more intense pain to sexualized than to nonsexualized targets. Thus, building on past research, this study suggests that the effect of target sexualization on dehumanization is a more general rather than a culture-specific phenomenon.

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