scholarly journals Blocking effects and non-clause bound reflexives in Mandarin and American English

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-140
Author(s):  
Sara S. Loss
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Recent Analysis ◽  
Transfer System ◽  
Functional Head ◽  
Blocking Effects ◽  
Exploratory Data ◽  
Cyclic Transfer

A sub-set of languages with non-clause bound (NCB) reflexives exhibits Blocking effects. In these languages, a NCB reflexive is “blocked” from corefering with a higher subject when a lower subject does not agree with a higher subject for person. Accounting for Blocking effects has been challenging. Recently, researchers have posited a functional head that encodes point of view or sentience (e.g. Huang & Liu 2001; Tenny 2006; Chou 2012). However, these analyses do not account for all available data. Here, I offer a small modification to the most recent analysis of this type that accounts for available data by conforming to Chomsky’s cyclic transfer system (2007, 2008). I also provide exploratory data that suggests that (i) NCB reflexives exist in American English and (ii) they unexpectedly exhibit Blocking effects. Finally, I illustrate that the modified analysis for Mandarin also accounts for the distribution of NCB reflexives in American English.

Usage problems in American English

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viktorija Kostadinova
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Context Sensitivity ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Language Context

This chapter explores the complexity of attitudes to the usage problems ain’t, literally, and like in American English, from the point of view of both prescriptivist discourse found in usage guides and speakers’ ideas about these usage problems. I argue that the stakes for speakers involved in using certain usage problems are different in different contexts, and that these usage problems merit more serious sociolinguistic attention. I pay particular attention to how the attitudes of speakers towards the usage problems considered in this chapter differ from those expressed in usage guides. One of the conclusions of this analysis is that different usage problems have different social implications for different speakers. Grammatical usage problems in particular seem to be more closely associated with education, although regional and language context sensitivity play a role as well.

scholarly journals Multiple factor analysis for time-varying two-mode networks

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
GIANCARLO RAGOZINI ◽  
DOMENICO DE STEFANO ◽  
MARIA ROSARIA D'ESPOSITO
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Multiple Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Multiple Factor Analysis ◽  
Multiway Data Analysis ◽  
Present Complex ◽  
Exploratory Data ◽  
Multiple Factor

AbstractMost social networks present complex structures. They can be both multi-modal and multi-relational. In addition, each relationship can be observed across time occasions. Relational data observed in such conditions can be organized into multidimensional arrays and statistical methods from the theory of multiway data analysis may be exploited to reveal the underlying data structure. In this paper, we adopt an exploratory data analysis point of view, and we present a procedure based on multiple factor analysis and multiple correspondence analysis to deal with time-varying two-mode networks. This procedure allows us to create static displays in order to explore network evolutions and to visually analyze the degree of similarity of actor/event network profiles over time while preserving the different statuses of the two modes.

scholarly journals Why mediation analysis trumps Mendelian randomization in population epigenomics studies of the Dutch Famine

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elmar W. Tobi ◽  
Erik W. van Zwet ◽  
L.H. Lumey ◽  
Bastiaan T. Heijmans
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Mediation Analysis ◽  
Mendelian Randomization ◽  
False Negative ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Recent Analysis ◽  
Reverse Causation ◽  
Metabolic Traits ◽  
Negative Results ◽  
False Negative Results

Our recent analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation data in men and women exposed to the Dutch Famine met passionate criticism by several researchers active on Twitter. It also prompted a more reasoned letter by Richmond and colleagues. At the core of the debate is the proper interpretation of findings from a mediation analysis. We used this method to identify specific DNA methylation changes that statistically provide a link between prenatal exposure to famine and adult metabolic traits. Our critics first argue that our results do not suggest mediation but reverse-causation, where famine-induced metabolic traits drive changes in DNA methylation. We rebut this scenario in a simulation study showing that our test of mediation was unlikely to become statistically significant in the case of reverse-causation. Some critics then argue that Mendelian randomization provides the sole path to correct inference. This belief misses a crucial point: DNA methylation, especially when measured in peripheral blood, is not likely to be a causal mediator from a biological point of view. It could however be a proxy of epigenetic regulation changes in specific tissues, for example at the level of transcription factor binding. If so, a Mendelian randomization approach using genetic variants affecting local DNA methylation in blood will be disconnected from the underlying biological mechanism and is bound to yield false-negative results. Our new simulation studies strengthen the original reasoning that the relationship between prenatal famine and metabolic traits is statistically mediated by specific DNA methylation changes while the specific molecular mechanism awaits elucidation.

scholarly journals Metonymic Words and Expressions Characteristic of American English

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 73-80
Author(s):  
Elnara Putayeva
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Cultural Background ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Historical Knowledge ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Everyday Language ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Precise Expression

When a particular metonymic word or expression is used, it is necessary to have certain cultural and historical knowledge in order to understand what is concealed within these metonymic expressions. Sometimes these metonymic expressions reveal the variety and characteristic features of a culture and give an idea of its being different from others. In the following paper the main intention is to analyze metonymic expressions in American English and to indicate variety that they bring to the speech of language carriers. Metonymy is also used in everyday language in order to give a more colorful and precise expression to ideas. Metonymies are approached as conceptual processes of extension, i.e. they are not so much relationships between words as relationships between concepts. It is interesting to note from a methodological point of view that while research on metaphor, cognitive or otherwise, has been able to focus on its object of matter without necessarily considering metonymy, things are quite different when metonymy comes under analysis. People with resembling cultural backgrounds and many similarities in common may share similar metonymic expressions, but for those who do not have the same cultural background it could sound like a challenge. Metonymy is accordingly a relevant linguistic device that plays a key role in the study of language and culture, and in understanding the speech of people from different cultures. The variety that these expressions cover may range from proper names to names of food and meals.

Acoustic and Perceptual Characteristics of Mandarin Speech in Gay and Heterosexual Male Speakers

2021 ◽  
pp. 002383092110007
Author(s):  
Puyang Geng ◽  
Wentao Gu
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
American English ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Gay Identity ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Acoustic Parameters ◽  
Heterosexual Male ◽  
Monosyllabic Words ◽  
Perceptual Characteristics ◽  
Voice Fundamental Frequency

This study investigated acoustic and perceptual characteristics of Mandarin speech produced by gay and heterosexual male speakers. Acoustic analysis of monosyllabic words showed significant differences between the two groups in voice fundamental frequency (F0), F1 of low vowel, and duration of aspiration/frication in consonants. The acoustic patterns on F0, formants, and center of gravity as well as spectral skewness of /s/ differed from those reported for Western languages like American English, which could be interpreted from a sociopsychological point of view based on different acceptability of gay identity in the two societies. The results of a perceptual experiment revealed significant but weak correlations between the acoustic parameters and the score of perceived gayness, which was significantly higher on gay speech than on heterosexual male speech. Although the observed F0 and F1 patterns in Mandarin gay speech were opposite to the stereotype of gayness, gay identity can still be identified to some extent from speech due to the existence of other acoustic cues such as a longer fricative duration, which is not a stereotype of gayness but has been consistently observed in Mandarin and Western languages.

A changing target language: trends in American English as viewed from the EFL perspective of China

English Today ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 34-41
Author(s):  
Fan Xianlong
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
American English ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Knowing That ◽  
Changing Trends ◽  
Social Events ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Object Of Study

ABSTRACTChanging trends in colloquial American English from the viewpoint of a visitor and their implications for teaching of English in China. Knowing that language changes and an appreciation of current changes is of great importance for foreign-language learners as it helps enable them to have a good command of the current language so as to strengthen their ability to communicate with native speakers with facility. The reality Chinese learners of English face is, however, that they hardly have opportunities to be exposed to natural spoken forms of the target language around them, let alone access to its current changing trends. This paper aims to present such information. Based on the investigation I made among native English-speaking Americans, it tries, from a descriptive pragmatic point of view, to give an account of some salient trends of American English in daily communication. It takes everyday spoken American English as the object of study, for it is the kernel part of the language for social interaction. It is this part of the language that first undergoes changes in response to various social events, and that, having much to do with the study of language use, deserves our special attention.

scholarly journals NATIONAL AND CULTURAL PECULIARITIES OF PHONETICS IN THE AMERICAN ENGLISH

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (9(77)) ◽  
pp. 16-18
Author(s):  
Iryna Nickolayeva
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
English Language ◽  
American English ◽  
Regional Identity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Regional Dialects ◽  
Territorial Jurisdiction ◽  
Phonetic Features

The article shows the establishment of the territorial norms on the level of phonetics in the American English. It analyses their national and cultural peculiarities. The studied and presented material shows that the phonetic characteristics of the American national version of the English language have their own territorial national and cultural characteristics. The article deals with the issue of phonetic peculiarities of the dialectic language as an ideal of the signs of the territorial jurisdiction of native speakers in terms of interpersonal communication. The main causes of regional dialects are analyzed. Separately, it is noted that the phonetic characteristics of the American national version of English in the South-West of the United States have their own regional identity. It is underlined that distinctive phonetic features of the English language in the United States include not only dialect phenomena, but they are also characteristic of the literary language. The assessment of the same linguistic facts from the point of view of American and British norms is indicative in this respect. In this article, it is discussed in detail the phonetic features of American English compared to British, officially recognized in the world community the main. The American version is of the greatest interest in comparison with Canadian, Australian and New Zealand English, because, for various reasons, it has undergone a large number of changes in all aspects of the language, including phonetic. The article emphasizes that the United States is developing its own territorial phonetic norms.

scholarly journals E-Commerce Customers Behavior Research Using Cohort Analysis: A Case Study of COVID-19

2022 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Solomiia Fedushko ◽  
Taras Ustyianovych
Keyword(s):  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Cohort Analysis ◽  
Practical Method ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Infrastructure Monitoring ◽  
Technical Performance ◽  
Exploratory Data ◽  
Real World Problems

Cohort analysis is a new practical method for e-commerce customers’ research, trends in their behavior, and experience during the COVID-19 crisis. The purpose of the research is to validate the efficiency of this method on the e-commerce records data set and find out the critical factors associated with customer awareness and loyalty levels. The cohort analysis features engineering, descriptive statistics, and exploratory data analysis are the main methods used to reach the study purpose. The research results showed that cohort analysis could answer various business questions and successfully solve real-world problems in e-commerce customer research. It could be extended to analyze user satisfaction with a platform’s technical performance and used for infrastructure monitoring. Obtained insights on e-commerce customers’ awareness and loyalty levels show the likeliness of a user to make a purchase or interact with the platform. Key e-business aspects from a customer point of view are analyzed and augment the user-experience understanding to strengthen customers’ relationships in e-commerce.

scholarly journals Classifying Charge Carrier Interaction in Highly Compressed Elements and Silane

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4322
Author(s):  
Evgueni Talantsev
Keyword(s):  
Charge Carrier ◽  
First Principles ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Recent Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Point ◽  
First Principles Calculations ◽  
Temperature Dependent ◽  
Primary Mechanism ◽  
Carrier Interaction ◽  
Black Phosphorous

Since the pivotal experimental discovery of near-room-temperature superconductivity (NRTS) in highly compressed sulphur hydride by Drozdov et al. (Nature 2015, 525, 73–76), more than a dozen binary and ternary hydrogen-rich phases exhibiting superconducting transitions above 100 K have been discovered to date. There is a widely accepted theoretical point of view that the primary mechanism governing the emergence of superconductivity in hydrogen-rich phases is the electron–phonon pairing. However, the recent analysis of experimental temperature-dependent resistance, R(T), in H3S, LaHx, PrH9 and BaH12 (Talantsev, Supercond. Sci. Technol. 2021, 34, accepted) showed that these compounds exhibit the dominance of non-electron–phonon charge carrier interactions and, thus, it is unlikely that the electron–phonon pairing is the primary mechanism for the emergence of superconductivity in these materials. Here, we use the same approach to reveal the charge carrier interaction in highly compressed lithium, black phosphorous, sulfur, and silane. We found that all these superconductors exhibit the dominance of non-electron–phonon charge carrier interaction. This explains the failure to demonstrate the high-Tc values that are predicted for these materials by first-principles calculations which utilize the electron–phonon pairing as the mechanism for the emergence of their superconductivity. Our result implies that alternative pairing mechanisms (primarily the electron–electron retraction) should be tested within the first-principles calculations approach as possible mechanisms for the emergence of superconductivity in highly compressed lithium, black phosphorous, sulfur, and silane.

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