Affective and concreteness norms for 3,022 Croatian words

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (9) ◽  
pp. 2302-2312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bojana Ćoso ◽  
Marc Guasch ◽  
Pilar Ferré ◽  
José Antonio Hinojosa
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Subjective Ratings ◽  
Semantic Variable ◽  
Word Concreteness ◽  
Online Ratings ◽  
Psycholinguistic Norms ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
Valence And Arousal ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Affective Dimensions

This study presents subjective ratings for 3,022 Croatian words, which were evaluated on two affective dimensions (valence and arousal) and one lexico-semantic variable (concreteness). A sample of 933 Croatian native speakers rated the words online. Ratings showed high reliabilities for all three variables, as well as significant correlations with ratings from databases available in Spanish and English. A quadratic relation between valence and arousal was observed, with a tendency for arousal to increase for negative and positive words, and neutral words having the lowest arousal ratings. In addition, significant correlations were found between affective dimensions and word concreteness, suggesting that abstract words have a tendency to be more arousing and emotional than concrete words. The present database will allow experimental research in Croatian, a language with a considerable lack of psycholinguistic norms, by providing researchers with a useful tool in the investigation of the relationship between language and emotion for the South-Slavic group of languages.

scholarly journals A Mathematical Model Captures the Structure of Subjective Affect

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 508-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison M. Mattek ◽  
George L. Wolford ◽  
Paul J. Whalen
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Rating Scales ◽  
Subjective Rating ◽  
Circumplex Model ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Valence And Arousal ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Affective Dimensions

Although it is possible to observe when another person is having an emotional moment, we also derive information about the affective states of others from what they tell us they are feeling. In an effort to distill the complexity of affective experience, psychologists routinely focus on a simplified subset of subjective rating scales (i.e., dimensions) that capture considerable variability in reported affect: reported valence (i.e., how good or bad?) and reported arousal (e.g., how strong is the emotion you are feeling?). Still, existing theoretical approaches address the basic organization and measurement of these affective dimensions differently. Some approaches organize affect around the dimensions of bipolar valence and arousal (e.g., the circumplex model), whereas alternative approaches organize affect around the dimensions of unipolar positivity and unipolar negativity (e.g., the bivariate evaluative model). In this report, we (a) replicate the data structure observed when collected according to the two approaches described above, and reinterpret these data to suggest that the relationship between each pair of affective dimensions is conditional on valence ambiguity, and (b) formalize this structure with a mathematical model depicting a valence ambiguity dimension that decreases in range as arousal decreases (a triangle). This model captures variability in affective ratings better than alternative approaches, increasing variance explained from ~60% to over 90% without adding parameters.

Oral Approach Avoidance

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 355-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Godinho ◽  
Margarida V. Garrido ◽  
Oleksandr V. Horchak
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Writing System ◽  
Oral Movements ◽  
Motivational States ◽  
Oral Approach ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
European Family

Abstract. Words whose articulation resembles ingestion movements are preferred to words mimicking expectoration movements. This so-called in-out effect, suggesting that the oral movements caused by consonantal articulation automatically activate concordant motivational states, was already replicated in languages belonging to Germanic (e.g., German and English) and Italic (e.g., Portuguese) branches of the Indo-European family. However, it remains unknown whether such preference extends to the Indo-European branches whose writing system is based on the Cyrillic rather than Latin alphabet (e.g., Ukrainian), or whether it occurs in languages not belonging to the Indo-European family (e.g., Turkish). We replicated the in-out effect in two high-powered experiments ( N = 274), with Ukrainian and Turkish native speakers, further supporting an embodied explanation for this intriguing preference.

scholarly journals Functional Neuroanatomy of Contextual Acquisition of Concrete and Abstract Words

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 2154-2171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Mestres-Missé ◽  
Thomas F. Münte ◽  
Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Functional Neuroanatomy ◽  
Linguistic Context ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
New Words ◽  
Simulation Paradigm ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Concrete Words

The meaning of a novel word can be acquired by extracting it from linguistic context. Here we simulated word learning of new words associated to concrete and abstract concepts in a variant of the human simulation paradigm that provided linguistic context information in order to characterize the brain systems involved. Native speakers of Spanish read pairs of sentences in order to derive the meaning of a new word that appeared in the terminal position of the sentences. fMRI revealed that learning the meaning associated to concrete and abstract new words was qualitatively different and recruited similar brain regions as the processing of real concrete and abstract words. In particular, learning of new concrete words selectively boosted the activation of the ventral anterior fusiform gyrus, a region driven by imageability, which has previously been implicated in the processing of concrete words.

Science communication in the international auxiliary language Esperanto

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loïc Rossi
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Scientific Journal ◽  
International Communication ◽  
Planetary Science ◽  
Scientific Culture ◽  
Science Outreach ◽  
National Languages ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Specific Country

<p>First published in 1887 by Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof, Esperanto is the most successful constructed language, with speakers all around the globe and even native speakers.</p> <p>The relationship between Esperanto and science starts very early: the scientific journal <em>Internacia Scienca Revuo</em> was created in 1904 and the International Esperantist Science Association (ISAE) was founded in 1907 (Wera Blanke, <em>Scienca Revuo</em> 206, 2006). Many publications and books about scientific topics have since been written or translated in Esperanto. </p> <p>Esperanto has initially been envisioned as a lingua franca to be used in international communication, both in general and for scientific purposes. While English has since taken this role, there is still a desire to maintain and develop the scientific culture and the related terminology in Esperanto. Science outreach is one way to achieve this goal, and new projects have appeared in the last few years.</p> <p>Esperanto represents an interesting challenge for outreach : being a more neutral language, not related to a specific country or ethnic group, the community of speakers (albeit small) is by essence more international and more diverse than in national languages. This is an opportunity, but also comes with some difficulties.</p> <p>In this work, I’ll discuss the advantages and obstacles of communicating science in Esperanto. I’ll present various projects of science communication in Esperanto, with a focus on my personal experience with my YouTube channel <em>D-ro Loĉjo</em>, where I do videos about science and in particular about planetary science.</p>

L1 transfer, proficiency, and the recognition of L2 verb-noun collocations: A perspective from three languages

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Senyung Lee
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
English Only ◽  
Mixed Effects Modeling ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This study investigated the effect of first language (L1) transfer in the recognition of second language (L2) collocations and unacceptable word combinations across low-intermediate to advanced learners of English, and the relationship between proficiency and the recognition of L2 collocations. The study targeted learners from two different L1 backgrounds and native speakers of English in order to disentangle the effect of L1 transfer from the effect of intralingual factors. Four types of English verb-noun combinations were included: English-Korean-Mandarin, English-only, Korean-only, and Mandarin-only phrases. A phrase acceptability judgment task and a phrase recognition report were used. The performances of 92 participants were analyzed using mixed effects modeling. The results from both Korean and Mandarin groups revealed no L1 influence in the recognition of unacceptable L2 word combinations, even at low levels of proficiency. The results also showed that L2 proficiency predicts learners’ ability to rule out grammatical-but-unacceptable L2 word combinations, but not the ability to recognize L2 collocations

Direct (dis)agreement verbs

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-140
Author(s):  
Siaw-Fong Chung
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Semantic Approach ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Societal Issues ◽  
Part Time ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract “*I am not agree with you” is an incorrect use of agree frequently seen in the writing of Taiwanese learners. Yet, not many studies have discussed the use of agree and disagree in the literature. Many studies are concerned more about the politeness of (dis)agreement, especially in detailing the relationship between speaker and hearer. We took a lexical semantic approach to compare the use of agree and disagree in essays written by native English speakers and Taiwanese learners in the ICNALE (International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English). The essays were based on two topics concerning societal issues collected in the corpus – (a) whether smoking should be completely banned in restaurants and (b) whether college students should take a part-time job or not – the writers were asked to respond to each issue by agreeing or disagreeing. Our results showed that when given clear instructions to agree or disagree, both native and learners tended to state (dis)agreement in the very first sentence in their essays, but Taiwanese learners relied more on the uses of agree and disagree more often than the native speakers did. The errors committed by learners on the use of agree (not for disagree) were between 25–35% in our data. The results will bring significant comparisons of the lexical semantics of related verbs (verbs of social interaction) in future studies.

Word frequency counts

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-239
Author(s):  
Bartosz Brzoza
Keyword(s):  
Word Frequency ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Applied Research ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
Subjective Frequency ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Comprehensive Picture ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Frequency Counts

Abstract Lexical frequency is one of the major variables involved in language processing. It constitutes a cornerstone of psycholinguistic, corpus linguistic as well as applied research. Linguists take frequency counts from corpora and they started to take them for granted. However, voices emerge that corpora may not always provide a comprehensive picture of how frequently lexical items appear in a language. In the present contribution I compare corpus frequency counts for English and Polish words to native speakers’ perception of frequency. The analysis shows that, while generally objective and subjective values are related, there is a disparity between measures for frequent Polish words. The direction of the relationship, though positive, is also not as strong as in previous studies. I suggest linking objective with subjective frequency measures in research.

The roles of english varieties and L2 motivation in English learners’ willingness to communicate in the internationalization at home (IaH) context

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yih-Lan Chen ◽  
Hsing-Fu Cheng ◽  
Hui-Wen Tang ◽  
Chaochang Wang
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
Academic Exchange ◽  
L2 Motivation ◽  
Internationalization At Home ◽  
Willingness To Use ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
At Home

Abstract To meet the challenges of internationalization, universities around the globe have implemented a variety of strategies, including study abroad, academic exchange, and cross-border collaboration. For any of these strategies, it was perhaps inevitable that English would become a crucial means of communication for both native and non-native speakers. The current study investigates the relationship between domestic college students’ perceptions of English varieties (PEV), L2 motivation, and willingness to communicate (WTC) in the internationalization at home (IaH) context. A model linking PEV, L2 motivation, and WTC was proposed. A total of 273 college students at a university in Taiwan responded to a questionnaire consisting of 16 items in four major categories. The results indicate that in the IaH context college students’ PEV significantly affects L2 motivation and only when learners are intrinsically motivated are they willing to communicate interculturally using English. The results suggest that promoting an appreciation for English varieties in the college context strengthens students’ intrinsic motivation to learn English, which may promote the students’ willingness to use English for communication.

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