scholarly journals Prologue: Language Challenges in the 21st Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 428-437
Author(s):  
Megan E. Birney ◽  
Janin Roessel ◽  
Karolina Hansen ◽  
Tamara Rakić
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Linguistic Backgrounds ◽  
Shed Light

As immigration and mobility increases, so do interactions between people from different linguistic backgrounds. Yet while linguistic diversity offers many benefits, it also comes with a number of challenges. In seven empirical articles and one commentary, this Special Issue addresses some of the most significant language challenges facing researchers in the 21st century: the power language has to form and perpetuate stereotypes, the contribution language makes to intersectional identities, and the role of language in shaping intergroup relations. By presenting work that aims to shed light on some of these issues, the goal of this Special Issue is to (a) highlight language as integral to social processes and (b) inspire researchers to address the challenges we face. To keep pace with the world’s constantly evolving linguistic landscape, it is essential that we make progress toward harnessing language’s power in ways that benefit 21st century globalized societies.

scholarly journals Interpreters and interpreting in conflict zones and scenarios: A historical perspective

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucía Ruiz Rosendo ◽  
Clementina Persaud
Keyword(s):  
Language Brokering ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Special Volume ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Conflict Situations ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Working Practices ◽  
Linguistic Backgrounds ◽  
Shed Light

This article presents an overview of interpreting in conflict zones and scenarios in different periods of history as represented in the papers included in the special issue. Conflict between parties with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds is pervasive in human history and has always involved interpreters in the sense of intercultural and linguistic mediators. Although interpreting became highly professionalized from the second half of the twentieth century, language brokering in conflict zones is still an unregulated occupation mainly pursued by untrained interpreters. Furthermore, there is a lack of recognition of the specific role that interpreters in conflict situations play. In spite of an increasing awareness of the role of interpreters in conflict zones and an expanding scholarly literature on the subject, we believe that more studies adopting a historical standpoint are needed. The aim of this special volume is to shed light on the characteristics, ideology, status, neutrality, occupation, role in the different stages of the conflict, training issues, and working practices and procedures of interpreters in conflict zones.

Shop sign as monument

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackie Jia Lou
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
Ethnographic Studies ◽  
Shed Light

Ethnographic studies of linguistic landscape have shed light on the complex processes in which signage is designed, created, perceived, and interpreted. This paper highlights the role of public discourse in such processes by tracing how the neon sign of a restaurant in Hong Kong ironically reached monumental status after its removal. Expanding the geosemiotic framework with the theory of recontexualization, it examines the shifting meanings of the sign as represented in four types of discourse, and suggests that it is their contradiction and divergence that has shaped the shop sign into an urban monument.

scholarly journals The Past and its Possibilities in Nahḍa Scholarship

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 265-287
Author(s):  
Feras Krimsti ◽  
John-Paul Ghobrial
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Heritage ◽  
The Many ◽  
Historical Reflection ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract This introduction to the special issue “The Past and its Possibilities in Nahḍa Scholarship” reflects on the role of the past in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century nahḍa discourse. It argues that historical reflection played a pivotal role in a number of scholarly disciplines besides the discipline of history, notably philosophy and logic, grammar and lexicography, linguistics, philology, and adab. Nahḍawīs reflected on continuities with the past, the genealogies of their present, and the role of history in determining their future. The introduction of print gave new impulses to the engagement with the historical heritage. We argue for a history of the nahḍa as a de-centred history of possibilities that recovers a wider circle of scholars and intellectuals and their multiple and overlapping local and global audiences. Such a history can also shed light on the many ways in which historical reflection, record-keeping practices, and confessional, sectarian, or communalist agendas are entwined.

English in the linguistic landscape of Suzhou

English Today ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Songqing Li
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Ethnolinguistic Vitality ◽  
The Public ◽  
Road Signs ◽  
Ethnolinguistic Group

The concept of linguistic landscape (LL) covers all of the linguistic objects that mark the public space, i.e. any written sign one observes from road signs to advertising billboards, to the names of shops, streets or schools (Landry & Bourhis, 1997). Because it both shapes and is shaped by social and cultural associations (Ben-Rafael, 2009; Jaworski & Thurlow, 2010: 6–23), the LL has proved an important area for investigating the dynamics of major aspects of social life (e.g. Backhaus, 2006; Huebner, 2006; Curtin, 2009; Lado, 2011; Papen, 2012). One strand of this research is particularly concerned with the role of LL in relation to ethnolinguistic vitality that ‘makes a group likely to behave as a distinctive and active collective entity in intergroup relations’ (Giles, Bourhis & Taylor, 1977: 308). The higher the vitality an ethnolinguistic group enjoys, the more it will be able to use language so as to survive and thrive as a collective entity.

The role of sex in cardiac function and diseaseThis paper is one of a selection of papers published in this Special Issue, entitled Young Investigator's Forum.

2006 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Czubryt ◽  
Leon Espira ◽  
Lise Lamoureux ◽  
Bernard Abrenica
Keyword(s):  
Disease Susceptibility ◽  
Heart Function ◽  
Cardiac Diseases ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Isolated Cardiomyocytes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Selection Of

In the past decade, increasing attention has been paid to the importance of sex in the etiology of cardiac dysfunction. While focus has been primarily on how sex modulates atherogenesis, it is becoming clear that sex is both a predictor of outcome and an independent risk factor for a number of other cardiac diseases. Animal models and human studies have begun to shed light on the mechanisms by which sex influences the function of cardiomyocytes in health and disease. This review will survey the current literature on cardiac diseases that are influenced by sex and discuss the intracellular mechanisms by which steroid sex hormones affect heart function. A theory on how sex may regulate myocardial energy metabolism to affect disease susceptibility and progression will be presented, as well as a discussion of how sex may influence outcomes of experiments on isolated cardiomyocytes by epigenetic marking.

scholarly journals The complexities of statistical measurements of new social processes: a system of Downshifting indicators

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (01) ◽  
pp. 363-369
Author(s):  
Mikhail Vladimirovich Karmanov ◽  
Irina Petrovna Gladilina ◽  
Anatoly Vladimirovich Zavrazhin ◽  
Irina Vladimirovna Shubina ◽  
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Sergeeva
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Present Article ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Indicator System ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Great Magnitude ◽  
Actual Role

In the 21st century, new social processes that used to be considered illogical, unusual, and even impossible in the recent past are becoming increasingly widespread. Downshifting implying deliberate rejection of the benefits of modern civilization should undoubtedly be viewed as one of such processes. In various countries and corners of the planet, the scale of the development of downshifting has now acquired such a great magnitude that acting like nothing is happening would be both impossible and wrong. Meanwhile, an unequivocal perception of downshifting as an exclusively favorable or unfavorable process has not yet formed in society. In this context, attempts at measuring and statistically evaluating the various parameters of downshifting draw great interest from the point of science and practice. However, it has to be admitted that statistical science somewhat lags behind the present demands and needs of society since the system of downshifting indicators providing its comprehensive characteristic and allowing for a relatively clear answer to the question of the actual role of such an unusual social process has not yet been developed. In this context, the present article examines the specific characteristics of the quantitative analysis of downshifting, analyses various approaches to creating a downshifting statistics indicator system, and presents the authors’ propositions considering the structure and components of the system of downshifting indicators allowing not only comprehensively demonstrating the scale, structure, distribution, and intensity of this process, but also addressing its socio-economic results and consequences.

scholarly journals Strategic Management of Health and Safety at Work: Critical Insights for HR Professionals in the Construction Sector

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adel Ali Yassin Alzyoud ◽  
Habil Slade Ogalo
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Construction Sector ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
The Core ◽  
Human Resource Department ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Health And Safety Issues

The present article aims to underline the role and importance of health and safety in the workplace particularly in the construction sector. The article is posed to shed light and hence, educate professionals working in the construction sector on one of the most pressing issues of the 21st century. The paper outline outline how the sector operates, and the importance of health and safety of employees is in this sector. The paper outlines the various types of hazardous and the acts that could cause health and safety issues for the workers in the construction sector. Following to this, the paper outlines the significant role of human resource department and HR professionals in the sector in this regard. The paper provides an insightful information on some of the core aspects that personnel management professionals in this sector could work on to help avoid any unintended consequences.

scholarly journals Epilogue: The Language Opportunities for the 21st Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 567-574
Author(s):  
Margaret J. Pitts
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
Current State ◽  
Science Approach ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Social Science Approach

This epilogue to the Special Issue on Language Challenges in the 21st Century offers commentary on the current state of social scientific inquiry in the field of language and social psychology. Inspired by the seven articles that make up this Special Issue, I became curious about what we would find if we sought language opportunities instead of language challenges in the 21st century. I recommend future scholarship at the intersections of global and linguistic diversity include a positive social science approach in order to consider the full spectrum of challenges and assets. I conclude with a note about the direction of future research related to COVID-19.

Climate change and intergroup relations: Psychological insights, synergies, and future prospects

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam R. Pearson ◽  
Jonathon P. Schuldt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Psychological Study ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Shed Light

Climate change is often conceived as a technical challenge, requiring smart policies and science-driven solutions. Yet, as revealed by each new round of international negotiations, and by growing (rather than receding) partisan divides on climate change in the United States, climate change is also profoundly social: How people understand and engage with the issue is powerfully influenced by the responses of others, including members of ingroups and outgroups. This special issue brings together research and theory that shed light on new and understudied group and intergroup dimensions of climate change. The featured articles showcase the breadth of social psychological processes (e.g., social identity and categorization processes, intergroup perceptions, normative influence, justice concerns, and group-based ideologies) relevant to the study of climate change while highlighting how the problem’s shared, global relevance poses unique questions and opportunities for the field. We explore the contributions of these articles to the social psychological study of climate change and highlight new challenges and pathways forward.

scholarly journals Agnostic Interactionism and Sensitizing Concepts in the 21st Century: Developing Shaffirian Theory-Work in Ethnographic Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-91
Author(s):  
Benjamin Kelly ◽  
Michael Adorjan
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Real World ◽  
Concept Formation ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Theoretical Knowledge ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Empirical Investigations

In this paper, we reflect upon our experiences taking a graduate qualitative methodol­ogy course with Dr. William (Billy) Shaffir. We highlight Billy’s approach to ethnographic research and his declaration to “just do it.” Rather than just absorbing theoretical knowledge from the liter­ature, Billy taught us to be wary of the dangers of a prior theorization and how it can distort rather than shed light on empirical investigations. Despite his belief that sociological theory is far too often abstract and removed from real-world contexts, he nevertheless provided us with a latent theoreti­cal commitment to concept formation, modification, and testing in the field that guides our research to this day. We explore Shaffir’s agnostic and at times ironic approach to theory and demonstrate how his specific type of theory-work, derived from Everett Hughes’ and Howard Becker’s interac­tionist perspective on “people doing things together,” influenced how many of his students study occupations and organizations via sensitizing concepts. Billy managed to get us to think differently about how we theorize in the field and how to cultivate a playful and healthy skeptical attitude towards its application. This type of agnostic-interactionism does not dismiss theory outright, but is always vigilant and mindful of how easy it is for practitioners of theory to slip into obfuscation and reification. We conclude with a Shaffir inspired theory-work that argues for the continuing sig­nificance of an agnostic stance towards ethnographic and qualitative inquiry; one that continues to sensitize the researcher to generic social processes through which agency-structure is mediated and accomplished.   

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