The diachronic development of the verbal bracket construction in German

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-176
Author(s):  
Elena Smirnova

Abstract This work-in-progress paper reports the first results of a study dedicated to the investigation of the cognitive status of the sentence bracket construction in German. The project aims at a comprehensive corpus analysis of diachronic data from the Early New High German period (ENHG, 1350–1650). The study focuses on the syntactic structures of German main clauses and is guided by two general research questions. First, on the conceptual level, it addresses the question of whether the sentence bracket construction can be considered a construction in its own right. Second, the paper deals with the issue of the diachronic source(s) of the sentence bracket construction. Based on ENHG corpus data, it examines the role of grammaticalization of verbal auxiliaries in the development of the bracket construction. On a more general level, the objective of the paper is to encourage the discussion on the cognitive status of syntactic phenomena which often escape a straightforward modelling in cognitive and constructionist terms, as they do not seem to bear a particular dedicated semantic and/or functional value.

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-289
Author(s):  
Stefan Hartmann

This paper investigates the role of syntactic, semantic, and lexical factors in the diachronic development of German nominalization patterns. Drawing on an extensive corpus analysis of Early New High German and New High German texts, it is shown that (a) deverbal nominals in the suffix -ung tend to develop more reified meaning variants, which is reflected in the syntactic patterns in which the word-formation products preferentially occur, and (b) infinitival nominalization becomes more productive and is established as the new default word-formation pattern deriving nouns from verbs. These considerations fit in neatly with a cognitively-oriented theory of word-formation change situated in the framework of Construction Grammar.


10.28945/3248 ◽  
2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecille Marsh

Previous research conducted by the author investigated the socio-political backgrounds of two groups of female students studying computer-related university programmes. They came from distinctly different backgrounds and were enrolled at two institutions with very different legacies. The author found that socio-political factors, in particular the role of a dominant female household head and aggressive governmental affirmative action, had a significant effect on the girls’ levels of confidence and subsequently on their decision to study computer-related courses. Based on this insight, the researcher undertook to look further into gender diversity with respect to self-perceived general computer confidence and self-perceived ability to program a computer. A sample of both female and male Information T echnology students from very similar disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds was surveyed. The sample of 204 students was drawn from all three years of the National Diploma in Information Technology. The author considered the following research questions: (i) Do males and females studying computer-related courses have differing computer selfefficacy levels? (ii) Do males and females studying computer programming have differing attitudes towards their ability to program? (iii) Do males and females differ in their attitudes towards the programming learning environment?


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 135-146
Author(s):  
Namita Poudel

One of the profound questions that troubled many philosophers is– “Who am I?” where do I come from? ‘Why am I, where I am? Or “How I see myself?” and maybe more technically -What is my subjectivity? How my subjectivity is formed and transformed? My attempt, in this paper, is to look at “I”, and see how it got shaped. To understand self, this paper tries to show, how subjectivity got transformed or persisted over five generations with changing social structure and institutions. In other words, I am trying to explore self-identity. I have analyzed changing subjectivity patterns of family, and its connection with globalization. Moreover, the research tries to show the role of the Meta field in search of subjectivity based on the following research questions; how my ancestor’s subjectivity changed with social fields? Which power forced them to change their citizenship? And how my identity is shaped within the metafield? The methodology of my study is qualitative. Faced to face interview is taken with the oldest member of family and relatives. The finding of my research is the subjectivity of Namita Poudel (Me) is shaped by the meta field, my position, and practices in the social field.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (S356) ◽  
pp. 170-170
Author(s):  
Jari Kotilainen

AbstractWe present first results from our study of the host galaxies and environments of quasars in Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA), a multiwavelength photometric and spectroscopic survey for ∼300,000 galaxies over ∼300 deg2, to a limiting magnitude of r ∼ 20 mag. We use a GAIA-selected sample of ∼350 quasars at z < 0.3 in GAMA. For all the quasars, we determine all surrounding GAMA galaxies and measure their star formation (SF) rate and SF history, and the host galaxy morphology and group membership of the quasars. As a comparison sample of inactive galaxies, we use 1000 subsets of galaxies in GAMA, matched in redshift and galaxy stellar mass to the quasars. We find that quasar activity does not depend on the large-scale environment (cluster/group/void), although quasars tend to prefer satellite location in their environment. Compared to inactive galaxies, quasars are preferentially hosted in bulge-dominated galaxies and have higher SF rates, both overall and averaged over the last 10 and 100 Myr. Quasars also have shorter median SF timescales, shorter median time since the last SF burst, and higher metallicity than inactive galaxies. We discuss these results in terms of triggering mechanisms of the quasar activity and the role of quasars in galaxy evolution.


Oecologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng He ◽  
Pierre-Olivier Montiglio ◽  
Marius Somveille ◽  
Mauricio Cantor ◽  
Damien R. Farine

AbstractBy shaping where individuals move, habitat configuration can fundamentally structure animal populations. Yet, we currently lack a framework for generating quantitative predictions about the role of habitat configuration in modulating population outcomes. To address this gap, we propose a modelling framework inspired by studies using networks to characterize habitat connectivity. We first define animal habitat networks, explain how they can integrate information about the different configurational features of animal habitats, and highlight the need for a bottom–up generative model that can depict realistic variations in habitat potential connectivity. Second, we describe a model for simulating animal habitat networks (available in the R package AnimalHabitatNetwork), and demonstrate its ability to generate alternative habitat configurations based on empirical data, which forms the basis for exploring the consequences of alternative habitat structures. Finally, we lay out three key research questions and demonstrate how our framework can address them. By simulating the spread of a pathogen within a population, we show how transmission properties can be impacted by both local potential connectivity and landscape-level characteristics of habitats. Our study highlights the importance of considering the underlying habitat configuration in studies linking social structure with population-level outcomes.


Author(s):  
Daniel Leisser ◽  
Katie Bray ◽  
Anaruth Hernández ◽  
Doha Nasr

AbstractThis article presents an empirical investigation into the construction of obedience in letters of applications mailed to National Socialist authorities for the position of executioner between the years 1933 and 1945. To this end, a corpus of 178 letters of application was compiled, annotated, and analyzed using the corpus analysis toolkits Antconc and Lancsbox. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the corpus was conducted. The findings were related to and interpreted from the perspectives of applied legal linguistics, stylistics, and legal history. The project aims to explore the construction of a shared discourse of obedience and how this discourse is operative in the letters of application. Drawing on an explorative interdisciplinary framework, this project seeks to answer the following research questions: Is obedience a construct in applicants’ letters of motivation? Which linguistic devices and discursive strategies are used by the executioners to express submission to officials of the National Socialist state? Are there variants of the construction of submission by applicants?


ReCALL ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-160
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Bárkányi

AbstractThis paper examines the role of motivation, anxiety, and self-efficacy beliefs and their interplay with regard to speaking on beginners’ Spanish LMOOCs. It answers three research questions: (1) what are learners’ motivations and goals for joining these LMOOCs and how do these relate to foreign language speaking anxiety; (2) how do learners’ self-efficacy beliefs and anxiety levels change as a result of course completion; and (3) is there a correlation between motivation, foreign language speaking anxiety, and self-efficacy beliefs in this context? A mixed-methods research design used quantitative and qualitative data gathered from self-reflective questionnaires and forum discussions. The results reveal that learners with intrinsic motivation are more likely to complete the courses than those who sign up to manage a personal situation or advance in their career or studies. No direct correlation was, however, found between motivation and the other variables under scrutiny. Learners present higher self-efficacy beliefs at the end of the courses than at the beginning, while anxiety levels are affected to a much smaller degree by course completion. Although spoken interactions in this learning environment are not synchronous, apprehension and anxiety prevent many learners from fully participating in the speaking activities.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 421
Author(s):  
Iwona Leonowicz-Bukała ◽  
Andrzej Adamski ◽  
Anna Jupowicz-Ginalska

This article presents the partial conclusion of the research project devoted to marketing activity of Polish Catholic opinion-forming weeklies on the social media platforms. The main aim of this article is to present the results of the study on the use of Twitter as a marketing tool by Polish nationwide Catholic opinion-forming weeklies. The basic research questions concerned the extent of utilizing the platform by the magazines’ editors to create and distribute the content of their media product, maintain and develop brand communication and self-promotion. The case studies and the content analysis of the accounts of the three magazines—Gość Niedzielny, Tygodnik Katolicki Niedziela and Przewodnik Katolicki—show that there are three different ways in how the editors of the magazines understand the role of the Twitter account of the title they represent—as an ‘active communicator’, ‘active communicator and community supporter’ or ‘community supporter’. The conclusions show that the studied media fairly efficiently use the visual and distributional potential of the platform as well as some of its features, at the same time missing the chance to build a brand-loyal community. They also limit the role of Twitter to that of a supplement for the main communication channel, which is the printed weekly and its website.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3858
Author(s):  
Francesca Abastante ◽  
Isabella M. Lami ◽  
Marika Gaballo

This paper is built on the following research questions: (i) What are the direct/indirect relationships between Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG11) and sustainability protocols? (ii) Could the sustainability protocols constitute a solution towards the achievement of SDG11? We underline that, on the one hand, the SDGs are guidelines to support the development of sustainable policies and thus address all elements that may affect them, and on the other hand, sustainability protocols are assessment tools to promote sustainability-conscious design while remaining focused on the built environment. In the Italian regulatory context, the paper highlights how this difference in terms of focus and scale means that they only overlap and mutually reinforce each other with regard to certain aspects, more related to energy and air pollution issues and less to the social aspects of sustainability. Even if there is not always a direct relationship between the evaluation criteria of the protocols and the indicators of SDG11, it is possible to conclude that the sustainability protocols can facilitate the achievement of the SDG11 targets, acting as a key for the implementation of sustainable cities and helping in structuring the process leading to sustainability in a broader framework.


AI Magazine ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 49-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall Davis ◽  
David Libon ◽  
Roda Au ◽  
David Pitman ◽  
Dana Penney

The digital clock drawing test is a fielded application that provides a major advance over existing neuropsychological testing technology. It captures and analyzes high precision information about both outcome and process, opening up the possibility of detecting subtle cognitive impairment even when test results appear superficially normal. We describe the design and development of the test, document the role of AI in its capabilities, and report on its use over the past seven years. We outline its potential implications for earlier detection and treatment of neurological disorders. We set the work in the larger context of the THink project, which is exploring multiple approaches to determining cognitive status through the detection and analysis of subtle behaviors.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document