From action to spoken and signed language through gesture

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 216-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia Volterra ◽  
Olga Capirci ◽  
Pasquale Rinaldi ◽  
Laura Sparaci

Abstract We review major developmental evidence on the continuity from action to gesture to word and sign in human children, highlighting the important role of caregivers in the development of multimodal communication. In particular, the basic issues considered here and contributing to the current debate on the origins and development of the language-ready brain are: (1) links between early actions, gestures and words and similarities in representational strategies; (2) importance of multimodal communication and the interplay between gestures and spoken words; (3) interconnections between early actions, gestures and signs. The innovation of this report is in connecting these themes together to relevant findings from studies on children between 6 and 36 months of age and highlighting interesting parallels in studies on ape communicative behavior.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Diessel ◽  
Kenny R. Coventry

This paper offers a review of research on demonstratives from an interdisciplinary perspective. In particular, we consider the role of demonstratives in current research on language universals, language evolution, language acquisition, multimodal communication, signed language, language and perception, language in interaction, spatial imagery, and discourse processing. Traditionally, demonstratives are analyzed as a particular class of spatial deictics. Yet, a number of recent studies have argued that space is largely irrelevant to deixis and that demonstratives are primarily used for social and interactive purposes. Synthesizing findings in the literature, we conclude that demonstratives are a very special class of linguistic items that are foundational to both spatial and social aspects of language and cognition.


2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 220-243
Author(s):  
Verena Mayer

How do we understand other minds? The current debate uses the iridescent term “empathy” to explain our quite different mindreading capacities. Since no alternatives seemed to be available the discussion has been mostly in a deadlock between “simulation theory” and “theory theory”. Only recently the relevance of phenomenological findings on the issue has been brought forward. In this paper Husserl’s two concepts of “Einfühlung”, as developed in the second volume of his Ideas, are set against the background of the latest discussion. Husserl’s explanation of empathy in terms of analogical experience highlights the transcendental role of empathy in the context of constitution. At the same time it may solve some of the many riddles left by the recent debate.


The concept of a law of nature, while familiar, is deeply puzzling. Theorists such as Descartes think a divine being governs the universe according to the laws which follow from that being’s own nature. Newton detaches the concept from theology and is agnostic about the ontology underlying the laws of nature. Some later philosophers treat laws as summaries of events or tools for understanding and explanation, or identify the laws with principles and equations fundamental to scientific theories. In the first part of this volume, essays from leading historians of philosophy identify central questions: are laws independent of the things they govern, or do they emanate from the powers of bodies? Are the laws responsible for the patterns we see in nature, or should they be collapsed into those patterns? In the second part, contributors at the forefront of current debate evaluate the role of laws in contemporary Best System, perspectival, Kantian, and powers- or mechanisms-based approaches. These essays take up pressing questions about whether the laws of nature can be consistent with contingency, whether laws are based on the invariants of scientific theories, and how to deal with exceptions to laws. These twelve essays, published here for the first time, will be required reading for anyone interested in metaphysics, philosophy of science, and the histories of these disciplines.


1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 203-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mendelson

Because of the recent emphasis on rhetorical context in business and technical writing (BTW) instruction, the problem-solving case has become a staple in BTW classrooms. However, a number of critics have voiced concerns about the use of the rhetorical case. These concerns recall an ancient debate among Roman rhetoricians over an early case-study method called declamation. For contemporary theorists, the debate over case study revolves around its value as a stimulant to problem-solving skills, its ability to imitate the realistic circumstances of professional BTW, and its emphasis on persona and audience along with its deemphasis of the teacher. A full spectrum of arguments on these and other issues in the case-study debate indicates that the discipline is entering a new phase in its deliberations over the role of problem-solving and pragmatics in the BTW classroom.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-8
Author(s):  
Davide Settembre-Blundo ◽  
Alfonso Pedro Fernández del Hoyo ◽  
Fernando Enrique García-Muiña

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the strategic management of risks in companies from a marketing management perspective and to provide some guidance for management practice. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents the authors’ viewpoint, and it conceptualizes a new approach to risk management. Findings The conceptual discussion has opened up a possible new way for enterprises, especially SMEs, to start taking a strategic approach to risk. Originality/value This paper would like to contribute to the current debate on the role of marketing function in managerial practice beyond the classic four Ps.


2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (Special Edition) ◽  
pp. 13-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rashid Amjad ◽  
Musleh ud Din Musleh ud Din ◽  
Abdul Qayyum Abdul Qayyum

This paper proposes that the underlying cause of the macroeconomic problems facing Pakistan today are a series of supply shocks which have constrained output growth. It is argued that while the current debate has solely focused on government expenditures and revenues, it is critical to also address the acute energy shortages which is constraining supply. The paper goes on to present four recommendations for breaking out of the present stagflation: (i) prudent macroeconomic management, (ii) reviving the role of the government in development while restoring fiscal balance, (iii) loosening monetary policy in order to spur the private sector, and (iv) improving social safety nets.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-111
Author(s):  
Salman Saleem

The study has contributed to the current debate on the significance of cultural referenced practices over self-reported values in the identification of culture (e.g., Fischer & Schwartz, 2011; Kirkman, Lowe, & Gibson, 2017). The study has examined whether there is a difference in the self-reported values versus cultural-referenced practices concerning masculinity and power distance. Also, which facet of masculinity and power distance, i.e., self-referenced and/or cultural referenced ratings predict the manifestation of such values in the advertising. The study has used a survey method and ask 200 respondents to report masculinity and power distance in their individual behavioural preference, in their social context and the manifestation of masculinity and power distance in advertising. The results show that self-reported and cultural-referenced rating of masculinity and power distance differ significantly. Moreover, the regression analysis shows that the culture-referenced masculinity and power distance predicts the reflection of respective values in advertising, but no such effect of self-reported values are found. Obtained results strengthen the argument that self-reported values did not identify the culture, instead, the normative values did identify the culture. Future international business and cross-cultural corporate governance research should consider the cultural practices of masculinity and power in their cross-cultural investigation.


2006 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Belardinelli

In questo articolo vengono affrontati i seguenti problemi: le linee portanti dell’attuale dibattito sul multiculturalismo, il ruolo delle tematiche bioetiche all’interno di tale dibattito, l’impulso che viene proprio dalle sfide della bioetica, affinché la cultura occidentale, a dispetto di molta retorica multiculturalista, ritrovi il senso del suo universalismo. ---------- This artiche discusses the following subjects: the leading issues in the current debate on multiculturalism; the role of the main topics of bioethics in such debate; the impulse that comes from challenges of bioethics in order that western culture, in spite of much multicultural rhetoric, may find again the spirit of its universalism.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (87) ◽  
Author(s):  
Myroslava Lohvynenko ◽  

The article is a study of the features of the individual’s communicative behavior, when implementing different social roles. By analyzing the concept of the social role and status, author puts forward the classification of the most frequent social roles represented by an individual in formal and informal communication situations (that of a father, lecturer, friend, colleague, employer, employee, consultant). The work is based on the number of studied and investigated dialogical fragments, where one character appears in different social roles and uses various language means. Having considered typical communicative situations, the author also singles out linguistic and extra-linguistic means which mark the changes of speaker’s social roles, namely: elevated, sarcastic, polite, sad, ironic, joyful, neutral, strict, humorous, angry, contemptuous, intrusive, friendly, confident and other tones as well as smile, frown and raised eyebrows, laugh, direct eye contact, pointing finger, pointing the hand etc. At the next stage of the analysis the author reveals the language means that mark the changes of the speaker's social roles as well as outlines the difficulties, connected with their translation into Ukrainian. Translation of the dialogical fragments was studied in order to find out types of rendition of the means that indicate realization of different social roles by the speaker. Non-verbal communication was also researched, aiming to find out correlation between the social role of the speaker and the means, used by the speaker, according to his social role. As a result, the paper presents the analysis of such means of translation as transliteration, transcription, antonymous, descriptive, and contextual tracing, literal types of translation as well as their dependence on the social role of the speaker. So the components of intercourse let communicative behavior of the individual to be comprehensively considered. Thereby, the results of the study, their representation in per cents, as well as examples of the communicative situations and their analysis, are represented in the following article.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nyankomo Marwa ◽  
Stephen Zhanje

Abstract The finance growth-nexus debates have been contentious over the past three decades both empirically and theoretically. To contribute to this debate, the current paper presents a concise review of finance-growths nexus theoretical development and the current debate around growth-finance nexus theories. Then, it extends the current theoretical debate to include development finance within the broader scheme of finance-growth discourse. The key emerging trend is that, most of the contemporary theories trying to explain finance growth nexus have been exclusively focusing on the standard finance in general. Little attention has been devoted to understand the role of development finance on finance-growth nexus. It concludes that, for a more comprehensive understanding of the finance growth nexus, the role of development finance should be integrated in theory of finance-growth nexus. The paper demonstrates that conventional model of finance-growth nexus is more likely to underestimate the magnitude of the impact of finance on economic growth especially for less developed countries. The paper suggests that, a model which breakdown the finance into standard finance subgroup and development finance subgroup may provide more accurate and insightful findings.


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