scholarly journals Register in variationist linguistics

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benedikt Szmrecsanyi
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Grammatical Knowledge ◽  
Linguistic Complexity ◽  
British English ◽  
Grammatical Variation ◽  
The Status ◽  
Register Analysis ◽  
Funded Research Project

Abstract Benedikt Szmrecsanyi, Professor of Linguistics in the Quantitative Lexicology and Variational Linguistics research group at the Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven, writes this article exploring the connections between register and variationist linguistics. He is involved with various large-scale research projects in areas such as probabilistic grammar, variationist sociolinguistic research, linguistic complexity, and dialectology/dialectometry. Szmrecsanyi’s books include Grammatical Variation in British English Dialects: A Study in Corpus-based Dialectometry (2013, Cambridge) and Aggregating Dialectology, Typology, and Register Analysis: Linguistic Variation in Text and Speech (Szmrecsanyi & Wälchli 2014, Mouton de Gruyter). He is currently a principal investigator on a major grant-funded research project titled ‘The register-specificity of probabilistic grammatical knowledge in English and Dutch’, a project aimed at exploring the question of whether register differences lead to differences in the processes of making linguistic choices. In sharp contrast to the status quo in variationist linguistics, where register is often ignored entirely, much of Szmrecsanyi’s variationist research treats register as a variable of primary importance. The findings from these studies have led Benedikt Szmrecsanyi to state that “we need more empirical/variationist work to explore the differences that register makes” (Szmrecsanyi 2017: 696).

scholarly journals Toward a rational and ethical sociotechnical system of autonomous vehicles: A novel application of multi-criteria decision analysis

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0256224
Author(s):  
Veljko Dubljevic ◽  
George List ◽  
Jovan Milojevich ◽  
Nirav Ajmeri ◽  
William A. Bauer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Analysis ◽  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Regulatory Control ◽  
Sociotechnical System ◽  
Multi Criteria Decision Analysis ◽  
Reliable Assessment ◽  
The Status ◽  
Potential Benefits

The impacts of autonomous vehicles (AV) are widely anticipated to be socially, economically, and ethically significant. A reliable assessment of the harms and benefits of their large-scale deployment requires a multi-disciplinary approach. To that end, we employed Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis to make such an assessment. We obtained opinions from 19 disciplinary experts to assess the significance of 13 potential harms and eight potential benefits that might arise under four deployments schemes. Specifically, we considered: (1) the status quo, i.e., no AVs are deployed; (2) unfettered assimilation, i.e., no regulatory control would be exercised and commercial entities would “push” the development and deployment; (3) regulated introduction, i.e., regulatory control would be applied and either private individuals or commercial fleet operators could own the AVs; and (4) fleets only, i.e., regulatory control would be applied and only commercial fleet operators could own the AVs. Our results suggest that two of these scenarios, (3) and (4), namely regulated privately-owned introduction or fleet ownership or autonomous vehicles would be less likely to cause harm than either the status quo or the unfettered options.

Political Street Art in Social Mobilization : A Tale of Two Protests in Argentina

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Eva Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Social Mobilization ◽  
Street Art ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Aesthetic

Separated by almost two decades, the large-scale social mobilizations known as El siluetazo and El argentinazo have been understood by some scholars as watershed moments in Argentine politics. At these times of heightened political contestation, it has been possible to observe a dissolution of the status quo and the emergence of new or alternative political paradigms. Less recognized, however, is the central role that ‘the aesthetic’ has played within such processes of political transformation. By focusing on the spectacular outpouring of street art that accompanied these two protest events, the chapter aims to illuminate some of the analytical gaps and grey areas that exist between art, aesthetics and social movement studies today.

Beyond Crisis Management: Governments, Academics, and Strategic Thinking about the Arab Uprisings

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-119
Author(s):  
Jane Kinninmont
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Strategic Thinking ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Arab Uprisings ◽  
Academic Researchers ◽  
The Status ◽  
New Thinking ◽  
Analytical Frameworks

The Arab uprisings prompted the promise of a grand rethink of Western policy towards the region, but four years on there is still a lack of new thinking about new Western strategic approaches to the region, as policymakers have been stretched by the need for immediate, emergency responses to the subsequent series of interconnected crises. This paper lays out some of the differences and overlaps between academic researchers and government policymakers in terms of their interests and approaches. It goes on to identify some of the research that helped to explain – and sometimes presage – the uprisings, and the gaps that became evident in policy analysis. It considers how research interactions have changed as a result, but also how changes to policymakers’ research approaches or analytical frameworks have been limited, as policymakers have been preoccupied with short-term responses to pressing conflicts and crises. Given the different timescales that governments and academic researchers work to, much of the research on the Arab uprisings is only being published now, at a time when the policy agenda has largely moved on to counterterrorism and stabilisation. Yet it remains vitally important to understand the causes of the 2011 unrest, especially as many of the same grievances persist and continue to drive challenges to the status quo, even if these now take different forms to the large-scale, coalition-based and largely peaceful mass protests seen in 2011.

scholarly journals Emerging semantics to link phenotype and environment

PeerJ ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. e1470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne E. Thessen ◽  
Daniel E. Bunker ◽  
Pier Luigi Buttigieg ◽  
Laurel D. Cooper ◽  
Wasila M. Dahdul ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Model ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Computing Methods ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Biological Ontologies ◽  
Fundamental Goal ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Status ◽  
Link Data

Understanding the interplay between environmental conditions and phenotypes is a fundamental goal of biology. Unfortunately, data that include observations on phenotype and environment are highly heterogeneous and thus difficult to find and integrate. One approach that is likely to improve the status quo involves the use of ontologies to standardize and link data about phenotypes and environments. Specifying and linking data through ontologies will allow researchers to increase the scope and flexibility of large-scale analyses aided by modern computing methods. Investments in this area would advance diverse fields such as ecology, phylogenetics, and conservation biology. While several biological ontologies are well-developed, using them to link phenotypes and environments is rare because of gaps in ontological coverage and limits to interoperability among ontologies and disciplines. In this manuscript, we present (1) use cases from diverse disciplines to illustrate questions that could be answered more efficiently using a robust linkage between phenotypes and environments, (2) two proof-of-concept analyses that show the value of linking phenotypes to environments in fishes and amphibians, and (3) two proposed example data models for linking phenotypes and environments using the extensible observation ontology (OBOE) and the Biological Collections Ontology (BCO); these provide a starting point for the development of a data model linking phenotypes and environments.

scholarly journals Heads or Tails: The Impact of a Coin Toss on Major Life Decisions and Subsequent Happiness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven D Levitt
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiment ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Research Subjects ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Coin Toss ◽  
Randomized Field Experiment ◽  
The Status ◽  
Life Decisions ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Little is known about whether people make good choices when facing important decisions. This article reports on a large-scale randomized field experiment in which research subjects having difficulty making a decision flipped a coin to help determine their choice. For important decisions (e.g. quitting a job or ending a relationship), individuals who are told by the coin toss to make a change are more likely to make a change, more satisfied with their decisions, and happier six months later than those whose coin toss instructed maintaining the status quo. This finding suggests that people may be excessively cautious when facing life-changing choices.

scholarly journals III—On Principled Compromise: When Does a Process of Transitional Justice Qualify as Just?

2020 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-70
Author(s):  
Colleen Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Devil

Abstract Processes of transitional justice (for instance, amnesty, truth commissions, reparations, trials) deal with large-scale wrongdoing committed during extended periods of conflict or repression. This paper discusses three common moral objections to processes of transitional justice, which I label shaking hands with the devil, selling victims short, and entrenching the status quo. Given the scale of wrongdoing and the context in which transitional justice processes are adopted, compromise is necessary. To respond to these objections, I argue, it is necessary to articulate the conditions that make a compromise principled. I defend three criteria that distinguish principled from unprincipled compromises.

Social movements thinking for managing change in large-scale systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 697-714
Author(s):  
Judith A. Holton
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
System Change ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Large Scale Systems ◽  
Large Scale System ◽  
The Status

PurposeThis study explores the efficacy of social movements thinking for mobilizing resources toward sustainable change in large-scale systems such as health and social services.Design/methodology/approachThe study proceeds from a critical realist perspective employing a qualitative multi-case study approach. Drawing on the tenets of grounded theory (i.e. constant comparative analysis and theoretical sampling), data from semi-structured interviews and field notes were analyzed to facilitate theoretical integration and elaboration.FindingsOne case study explores the emergence of social movements thinking in mobilizing a community to engage in sustainable system change. Data analysis revealed a three-stage conceptual framework whereby building momentum for change requires a fundamental shift in culture through openness and engagement to challenge the status quo by acknowledging not only the apparent problems to be addressed but also the residual apathy and cynicism holding the system captive to entrenched ideas and behaviors. By challenging the status quo, energy shifts and momentum builds as the community discovers shared values and goals. Achieving a culture shift of this magnitude requires leadership that is embedded within the community, with a personal commitment to that community and with the deep listening skills necessary to understand and engage the community and the wider system in moving forward into change. This emergent conceptual framework is then used to compare and discuss more intentional applications of social movements thinking for mobilizing resources for large-scale system change.Originality/valueThis study offers a three-stage conceptual framework for mobilizing community/system resources toward sustainable large-scale system change. The comparative application of this framework to more intentional applications of social movements thinking to planned change initiatives offers insights and lessons to be learned when large-scale systems attempt to apply such principles in redesigning health and social service systems.

scholarly journals Loss of resilience preceded transformations of pre-Hispanic Pueblo societies

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (18) ◽  
pp. e2024397118
Author(s):  
Marten Scheffer ◽  
Egbert H. van Nes ◽  
Darcy Bird ◽  
R. Kyle Bocinsky ◽  
Timothy A. Kohler
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Extremes ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Scale Transformation ◽  
Cumulative Impact ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Alternative Pathways ◽  
Slowing Down ◽  
The Status

Climate extremes are thought to have triggered large-scale transformations of various ancient societies, but they rarely seem to be the sole cause. It has been hypothesized that slow internal developments often made societies less resilient over time, setting them up for collapse. Here, we provide quantitative evidence for this idea. We use annual-resolution time series of building activity to demonstrate that repeated dramatic transformations of Pueblo cultures in the pre-Hispanic US Southwest were preceded by signals of critical slowing down, a dynamic hallmark of fragility. Declining stability of the status quo is consistent with archaeological evidence for increasing violence and in some cases, increasing wealth inequality toward the end of these periods. Our work thus supports the view that the cumulative impact of gradual processes may make societies more vulnerable through time, elevating the likelihood that a perturbation will trigger a large-scale transformation that includes radically rejecting the status quo and seeking alternative pathways.

scholarly journals Performance information in politics: How framing, format, and rhetoric matter to politicians’ preferences

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Baekgaard ◽  
Nicola Belle ◽  
Søren Serritzlew ◽  
Mariafrancesca Sicilia ◽  
Ileana Steccolini
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Direct Effects ◽  
Performance Information ◽  
Information Research ◽  
Local Politicians ◽  
The Status ◽  
Large Scale Survey ◽  
The Impact

Performance information research has grown rapidly over the last decade with much research emphasizing the importance of how information is framed, presented, and communicated by using a distinct rhetorical appeal. In this study, we examine how the framing, format, and rhetoric of performance information influences preferences among elected politicians. We study the direct effects of how information is presented. We also argue that performance information is always a mixture of different frames, formats, and rhetorical appeals and that it is therefore important to account for interaction effects. Using a large-scale survey experiment with responses from 1,406 Italian local politicians, we find that framing and ethos-based rhetoric affect politicians’ responses to performance information. We also find that the format of presentation is important in several ways. Thus, politicians are more likely to support the status quo when information is presented graphically rather than textually, and a graphical format furthermore reduces the impact of ethos-based rhetoric and – to a lesser extent – the impact of equivalence framing.

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