Quantifying Geographical Determinants of Large-Scale Distributions of Linguistic Features

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-115
Author(s):  
Harald Hammarström ◽  
Tom Güldemann
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Climate Zones ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Numeral Systems ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Basic Constituent ◽  
Geophysical Features

In the recent past the work on large-scale linguistic distributions across the globe has intensified considerably. Work on macro-areal relationships in Africa (Güldemann, 2010) suggests that the shape of convergence areas may be determined by climatic factors and geophysical features such as mountains, water bodies, coastlines, etc. Worldwide data is now available for geophysical features as well as linguistic features, including numeral systems and basic constituent order. We explore the possibility that the shape of areal aggregations of individual features in these two linguistic domains correlates with Köppen-Geiger climate zones. Furthermore, we test the hypothesis that the shape of such areal feature aggregations is determined by the contour of adjacent geophysical features like mountain ranges or coastlines. In these first basic tests, we do not find clear evidence that either Köppen-Geiger climate zones or the contours of geophysical features are major predictors for the linguistic data at hand.

scholarly journals Contrasting Performance of the Remotely-Derived GPP Products over Different Climate Zones across China

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 1855 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanan Chen ◽  
Hongfan Gu ◽  
Munan Wang ◽  
Qing Gu ◽  
Zhi Ding ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Gross Primary Production ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Semiarid Region ◽  
Interannual Variations ◽  
Climate Zones

Precise quantification of terrestrial gross primary production (GPP) has been recognized as one of the most important components in understanding the carbon balance between the biosphere and the atmosphere. In recent years, although many large-scale GPP estimates from satellite data and ecosystem models have been generated, few attempts have been made to compare the different GPP products at national scales, particularly for various climate zones. In this study, two of the most widely-used GPP datasets were systematically compared over the eight climate zones across China’s terrestrial ecosystems from 2001 to 2015, which included the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) GPP and the breathing Earth system simulator (BESS) GPP products. Additionally, the coarse (0.05o) GPP estimates from the vegetation photosynthesis model (VPM) at the same time scale were used for auxiliary analysis with the two products. Both MODIS and BESS products exhibited a decreasing trend from the southeast region to the northwest inland. The largest GPP was found in the tropical humid region with 5.49 g C m−2 d−1 and 5.07 g C m−2 d−1 for MODIS and BESS, respectively, while the lowest GPP was distributed in the warm temperate arid region, midtemperate semiarid region and plateau zone. Meanwhile, the work confirmed that all these GPP products showed apparent seasonality with the peaks in the summertime. However, large differences were found in the interannual variations across the three GPP products over different climate regions. Generally, the BESS GPP agreed better than the MODIS GPP when compared to the seasonal and interannual variations of VPM GPP. Furthermore, the spatial correlation analysis between terrestrial GPP and the climatic factors, including temperature and precipitation, indicated that natural rainfall dominated the variability in GPP of Northern China, such as the midtemperate semiarid region, while temperature was a key controlling factor in the Southern China and the Tibet Plateau area.

Multi-Target Search on Semantic Associations in Linked Data

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Zhang ◽  
Erjing Lin ◽  
Yulian Lv
Keyword(s):  
Linked Data ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Search Process ◽  
Search Model ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Target Search ◽  
Search Results ◽  
Semantic Associations ◽  
Effectiveness And Efficiency ◽  
Virtual Document

In this article, the authors propose a novel search model: Multi-Target Search (MT search in brief). MT search is a keyword-based search model on Semantic Associations in Linked Data. Each search contains multiple sub-queries, in which each sub-query represents a certain user need for a certain object in a group relationship. They first formularize the problem of association search, and then introduce their approach to discover Semantic Associations in large-scale Linked Data. Next, they elaborate their novel search model, the notion of Virtual Document they use to extract linguistic features, and the details of search process. The authors then discuss the way search results are organized and summarized. Quantitative experiments are conducted on DBpedia to validate the effectiveness and efficiency of their approach.

scholarly journals Large Evaporite Provinces: Geothermal rather than Solar Origin?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhanjie Qin ◽  
Chunan Tang ◽  
Xiying Zhang ◽  
Tiantian Chen ◽  
Xiangjun Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Driving Mechanism ◽  
Solar Origin ◽  
Tectonically Active ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Thermal Influence ◽  
The Masses

Abstract Large evaporite provinces (LEPs) represent prodigious volumes of evaporites widely developed from the Sinian to Neogene. The reasons why they often quickly develop on a large scale with large areas and thicknesses remain enigmatic. Possible causes range from warming from above to heating from below. The fact that the salt deposits in most salt-bearing basins occur mainly in the Sinian-Cambrian, Permian-Triassic, Jurassic-Cretaceous, and Miocene intervals favours a dominantly tectonic origin rather than a solar driving mechanism. Here, we analysed the spatio-temporal distribution of evaporites based on 138 evaporitic basins and found that throughout the Phanerozoiceon, LEPs occurred across the Earth’s surface in most salt-bearing basins, especially in areas with an evolutionary history of strong tectonic activity. The masses of evaporites, rates of evaporite formation, tectonic movements, and large igneous provinces (LIPs) synergistically developed in the Sinian-Cambrian, Permian, Jurassic-Cretaceous, and Miocene intervals, which are considered to be four of the warmest times since the Sinian. We realize that salt accumulation can proceed without solar energy and can generally be linked to geothermal changes in tectonically active zones. When climatic factors are involved, they may be manifestations of the thermal influence of the crust on the surface.

scholarly journals Conception and Origination of folk tune in Long March Cantata(长征组歌)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siyu Tian ◽  
Huibing Tan
Keyword(s):  
Folk Music ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Symphony Orchestra ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Bel Canto ◽  
Narrative Poetry ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Choral Repertoire ◽  
Northern Shaanxi ◽  
Instrumental Accompaniment

Thoughtful introduction of Chinese choral repertoire, the Long March cantata is contemporarily highly recognized music heritage of large-scale choral work of 10 movements last century in China. The cantata is composed to commemorate 30th anniversary of Long March. The journey of the Long March covered 11 provinces over 4,000 miles and crossed 24 rivers and 18 mountain ranges for over 370 days. The libretto is a set of narrative poetry by General Hua Xiao in Sept, 1964. "Long March Cantata" is conceptually composed based on "Where to go and where to say, when you hear the melody, the audiences will realize that it’s Guizhou, Yunnan, North Shaanxi ... Wherever the music is performed, it should restore the imaging of local feeling". This article mainly discusses its absorption of Chinese folk music based on Chinese pentatonic scales in music composition. Among them, movement one "Farewell (Leave the Base Area)" uses Jiangxi folk tunes, and the movement three "The Zunyi Conference, the Brilliance" use Guizhou tunes according to composers. For examples, in the movement four " Raid of Four times Cross Red Water ", Yunnan tunes are used, and in the movement seven "Arrive Wuqi Town", the northern Shaanxi tunes are used. In movement eight “Cheers" and movement nine "Annunciation", the tune of Changsha in Hunan and Northeast Jiangxi were selected to salute the southeast soldiers respectively. With the instrumental accompaniment of the full western orchestra, bel canto and national folk style signing (non-classical voicing) are well balanced. In order to match folk tune and regional congruency, Chinese traditional musical instruments, erhu (二胡), pipa (三弦), zhudi (bamboo flute, 笛子), suona (Chinese trumpet唢呐), kuaiban (bamboo castanets, 快板) as well as other Chinese percussion etc. were used with the western symphony orchestra according to historical context.

scholarly journals Temporal and Spatial Variations in NDVI and Analysis of the Driving Factors in the Desertified Areas of Northern China From 1998 to 2015

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuyang Wang ◽  
Yuqiang Li ◽  
XinYuan Wang ◽  
Yulin Li ◽  
Jie Lian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Restoration ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Gobi Desert ◽  
Desert Grassland ◽  
Dune Stability ◽  
Mobile Dunes

China faces some of the most serious desertification in the world, leading to many problems. To solve them, large-scale ecological restoration projects were implemented. To assess their effectiveness, we analyzed normalized-difference vegetation index (NDVI) data derived from SPOT VEGETATION and gridded climate datasets from 1998 to 2015 to detect the degrees of desertification and the effects of human and climate drivers on vegetation dynamics. We found that NDVI of desertified areas generally decreased before 2000, then increased. The annual increase in NDVI was fixed dunes (0.0013) = semi-fixed dunes (0.0013) > semi-mobile dunes (0.0012) > gobi (gravel) desert (0.0011) > mobile dunes (0.0003) > saline–alkali land (0.0000). The proportions of the area of each desert type in which NDVI increased were fixed dunes (43.4%) > semi-mobile dunes (39.7%) > semi-fixed dunes (26.7%) > saline–alkali land (23.1%) > gobi desert (14.4%) > mobile dunes (12.5%). Thus, the vegetation response to the restoration efforts increased as the initial dune stability increased. The proportion of the area where desertification was dominated by temperature (1.8%) was far less than the area dominated by precipitation (14.1%). However, 67.6% of the change was driven by non-climatic factors. The effectiveness of the ecological restoration projects was significant in the Loess Plateau and in the Mu Us, Horqin, and Hulunbuir sandy lands. In contrast, there was little effect in the Badain Jaran, Ulan Buh, and Tengger deserts; in particular, vegetation cover has declined seriously in the Hunshandake Sandy Land and Alkin Desert Grassland. Thus, more or different ecological restoration must be implemented in these areas.

scholarly journals ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION-LEGAL ISSUES AND IMLICATIONS

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (9SE) ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Ayush Jaiswal ◽  
Madhuri Krishnani
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Major Change ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
Environmental Legislation ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Enforcement Mechanism ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Global Concern ◽  
Protection Of Life

In the last few decades the large scale environmental degradation has caused global concern about the conservation and protection of life on the earth. In the recent past we are hearing about environmental legislation which is no different from the goal set out in our constitution. It has become imperative to bring major change as far the enforcement mechanism is concerned. There is no doubt that the technological inventions and progress has over powered nature, it has also resulted in the thoughtless exploitation of nature. If man is able to transform deserts into oasis he is also leaving behind deserts in the place of oasis.

scholarly journals Linguistic effects on news headline success: Evidence from thousands of online field experiments (Registered Report Protocol)

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0257091
Author(s):  
Kristina Gligorić ◽  
George Lifchits ◽  
Robert West ◽  
Ashton Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Written Text ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Large Scale Dataset ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Competing Hypotheses

What makes written text appealing? In this registered report protocol, we propose to study the linguistic characteristics of news headline success using a large-scale dataset of field experiments (A/B tests) conducted on the popular website Upworthy comparing multiple headline variants for the same news articles. This unique setup allows us to control for factors that can have crucial confounding effects on headline success. Based on prior literature and a pilot partition of the data, we formulate hypotheses about the linguistic features that are associated with statistically superior headlines. We will test our hypotheses on a much larger partition of the data that will become available after the publication of this registered report protocol. Our results will contribute to resolving competing hypotheses about the linguistic features that affect the success of text and will provide avenues for research into the psychological mechanisms that are activated by those features.

scholarly journals Register and Register Variation

Linguistics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Register Variation ◽  
Functional Perspective ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Situational Characteristics ◽  
Register Studies ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Key Resources ◽  
Linguistic Approach

Register research has been approached from differing theoretical and methodological approaches, resulting in different definitions of the term register. In the text-linguistic approach, which is the primary focus of this bibliography, register refers to text varieties that are defined by their situational characteristics, such as the purpose of writing and the mode of communication, among others. Texts that are similar in their situational characteristics also tend to share similar linguistic profiles, as situational characteristics motivate or require the use of specific linguistic features. Text-linguistic research on register tends to focus on two aspects: attempts to describe a register, or attempts to understand patterns of register variation. This research happens via comparative analyses, specific examinations of single linguistic features or situational parameters, and often via examinations of co-occurrence of linguistic features that are analyzed from a functional perspective. That is, certain lexico-grammatical features co-occur in a given text because they together serve important communicative functions that are motivated by the situational characteristics of the text (e.g., communicative purpose, mode, setting, interactivity). Furthermore, corpus methods are often relied upon in register studies, which allows for large-scale examinations of both general and specialized registers. Thus, the bibliography gives priority to research that uses corpus tools and methods. Finally, while the broadest examinations on register focus on the distinction between written and spoken domains, additional divisions of register studies fall under the categories of written registers, spoken registers, academic registers, historical registers, and electronic/online registers. This bibliography primarily introduces some of the key resources on English registers, a decision that was made to reach a broader audience.

scholarly journals THE LINGUISTIC NATURE OF ONOMATOPOEIA

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 67-73
Author(s):  
Marina A. Droga ◽  
◽  
Nataliya V. Yurchenko ◽  
Svetlana V. Funikova ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Role ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Surrounding World ◽  
Oral Speech ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Writing Chinese

The problem of onomatopoeias as a special lexical group has existed in the language for many decades. Onomatopoeias imitate the sounds of nature, the language of animals, objects of the surrounding world. In the text, onomatopoeia can perform various functions: emotional influence, imitation, as well as the function of language economy. But one of its main functions remains sound imaging. In Russia and China, different language pictures, specific cultural elements and linguistic features are noted. All this confirms the large-scale differences in the sound imitations of both languages, and in various aspects: in the composition of the components, in the functional role, in the meanings. Despite the fact that the differences in the phonetic system of Russian and Chinese are quite large, the onomatopoeias and their functions in the languages under consideration have the same features. Onomatopes are an expression of the same emotions, feelings, sounds both in oral speech and in writing. Chinese onomatopes are a graphic copy that attributes us to the actual sounding. This fact makes onomatopoeias in Chinese similar to onomatopes in Russian. The connection of sound and meaning is especially important: linguists study the nature of this connection from different points of view. It is also important to note the difference between sound imitations and similar interjections. Onomatopes are not only part of the system of the Russian and Chinese languages, but are also a progressive link that develops the resources of the language, its word-forming capabilities, as well as the expressive sphere of expression.

Geographical axis effects in large-scale linguistic distributions

2020 ◽  
pp. 58-77
Author(s):  
Tom Güldemann ◽  
Harald Hammarström
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Human History ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Large Space ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Comprehensive Theory ◽  
Geographical Factors ◽  
First Results ◽  
Long Time

Taking up Diamond’s (1999) geographical axis hypothesis regarding the different population histories of continental areas, Güldemann (2008, 2010) proposed that macro-areal aggregations of linguistic features are influenced by geographical factors. This chapter explores this idea by extending it to the whole world in testing whether the way linguistic features assemble over long time spans and large space is influenced by what we call “latitude spread potential” and “longitude spread constraint.” Regarding the former, the authors argue in particular that contact-induced feature distributions as well as genealogically defined language groups with a sufficient geographical extension tend to have a latitudinal orientation. Regarding the latter, the authors provide first results suggesting that linguistic diversity within language families tends to be higher along longitude axes. If replicated by more extensive and diverse testing, the authors’ findings promise to become important ingredients for a comprehensive theory of human history across space and time within linguistics and beyond.

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