Translanguaging patterns in everyday urban conversations in Cameroon

Author(s):  
Eric A. Ambele ◽  
Richard Watson Todd

Abstract This study analyses the translanguaging patterns of urban Cameroonians’ linguistic choices (e.g. lexical or phonological) in everyday conversations in Cameroon. Using observation and audio-recordings of 20 naturally occurring conversations as data, a descriptive corpus-based methodology was adopted for analysis. The quantitative approach utilises AntConc (Version 3.5.8) with descriptive analytical tools to identify the speakers’ idiolectal choices in meaning-making translanguaging patterns. The results revealed salient patterns of the speakers’ deployed lexical, grammatical, morphological, phonological and syntactical forms as an integrated system of language. It revealed the speakers preference for polysemous words (e.g. repe) over less polysemous words (e.g. father); choice for shorter lexical words (e.g. man) over longer words (e.g. manpikin); a preference for specialised gender-neutral markers (e.g. ih, which refers to both male and female) over gender-specific forms (e.g. he/she); a preference for voiceless interdental fricatives (e.g. dem, dey) over voiced interdental fricatives (e.g. them, they) and where the choice of inflectional morpheme expressing tense (e.g. ed) is one that can either be omitted or added to a word, the presence of this inflectional morpheme is sometimes fairly used. Such results have practical implications for understanding peoples’ language use as a translanguaging act in bi/multilingual contexts.

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-389
Author(s):  
Hoa Do ◽  
Tran Huu Thuy Giang ◽  
Ket Mai

Abstract This study builds upon Schegloff’s model as a template to investigate the phenomenon of how Vietnamese people perform their telephone openings. We use a corpus of 50 audio recordings of Vietnamese telephone openings to analyze such a phenomenon through both Conversation Analysis and Ethnography methods in order to capture the data in naturally-occurring settings, and to provide insights into Vietnamese culture that makes Vietnamese telephone openings different from North American ones. The findings demonstrate that Vietnamese telephone openings share some common features with telephone openings in different language communities, especially North American culture. Nevertheless, a number of variations, due to language and cultural differences, still exist. We discuss both theoretical and practical implications.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 825-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elina Närvänen ◽  
Hannu Kuusela ◽  
Heli Paavola ◽  
Noora Sirola

PurposeThis paper's purpose is to develop a meaning-based framework for customer loyalty by examining how consumers make sense of customer loyalty through meanings and metaphors.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative study based on in-depth interviews and focus group data in the retail context was conducted with Finnish customers. The data were analysed with qualitative data analysis techniques such as the constant comparative technique.FindingsThe empirical findings comprise eight loyalty meanings characterised by two dimensions. The first dimension is reflexive vs. routinised, and the second dimension is private vs. social. The loyalty types are dimensionalised through four metaphors: loyalty as freedom of choice; as being conventional and binding; and as belongingness.Practical implicationsThe findings improve the way customer loyalty currently is understood in the retail setting. The paper proposes that customer insight that utilises thick data can be used to grasp loyalty meanings. These data are rich in context and detail, and they take into account customers' everyday lives. Utilising thick data in the form of storytelling fuels customers' meaning-making related to customer loyalty, potentially enriching their relationship with the retailer.Originality/valueCustomer loyalty has been driven largely by a transactional and company-centric perspective. This article presents an alternative view of customer loyalty that accounts for the variety of meanings that customers may assign to their loyalty-related thoughts and behaviours.


2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted Matherly

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the effectiveness of systems for ensuring cooperation in online transactions is impacted by a positivity bias in the evaluation of the work that is produced. The presence of this bias can reduce the informativeness of the reputation system and negatively impact its ability to ensure quality. Design/methodology/approach This research combines survey and experimental methods, collecting data from 1,875 Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers in five studies designed to investigate the informativeness of the MTurk reputation system. Findings The findings demonstrate the presence of a positivity bias in evaluations of workers on MTurk, which leaves them undifferentiated, except at the extremity of the reputation system and by status markers. Research limitations/implications Because MTurk workers self-select tasks, the findings are limited in that they may only be generalizable to those who are interested in research-related work. Further, the tasks used in this research are largely subjective in nature, which may decrease their sensitivity to differences in quality. Practical implications For researchers, the results suggest that requiring 99 per cent approval rates (rather than the previously advised 95 per cent) should be used to identify high-quality workers on MTurk. Originality/value The research provides insights into the design and use of reputation systems and demonstrates how design decisions can exacerbate the effect of naturally occurring biases in evaluations to reduce the utility of these systems.


Author(s):  
Julio Gimenez ◽  
Mark Baldwin ◽  
Paul Breen ◽  
Julia Green ◽  
Ernesto Roque Gutierrez ◽  
...  

AbstractThis article reports on a research project that uses two innovative heuristics to examine the changes that texts – produced to disseminate new scientific knowledge – undergo when they travel across space and time. A critical analysis of such transformations would enhance our understanding of the processes involved in knowledge dissemination and inform the practice of communicating scientific knowledge to a variety of audiences. Based on our study of 520 closely linked science and science-related sources collected over 12 months in 2016, we argue that when scientific knowledge is re-contextualized to be disseminated to different audiences, it is not simply rephrased or simplified to make it more accessible. Rather, it also undergoes transformational processes that involve issues of social power, authority and access that require new analytical tools to surface more clearly. We report on the methodology of the study with a particular focus on its heuristics, and the transformations that result from a critical analysis of the data collected. We finally discuss a number of theoretical and practical implications in relation to contemporary practices for re-entextualizing scientific knowledge.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Betsy Campbell

PurposeThis paper seeks to advance research into entrepreneurial uncertainty. Few researchers have attended to the endogenous means by which entrepreneurial teams account for uncertainty in context. This article begins to unpack the concept of uncertainty as an entrepreneurs’ phenomenon by investigating entrepreneurial teams’ situated ways of verbally attending to and accounting for uncertainty in their routine work.Design/methodology/approachThe study draws on the ethnomethodological traditions of Conversation Analysis and interaction order to analyze naturally occurring interactions that have been recorded by entrepreneurial teams in context. It considers entrepreneurial uncertainty as a matter that teammates draw upon and orient to in the process of their naturally occurring workplace interactions.FindingsFirst, it suggests that the endogenous means by which entrepreneurs recognize, account for, and respond to uncertainties is identifiable in a team’s naturally occurring conversations. It transforms entrepreneurial uncertainty as a matter of cognition into a matter of practice that is observable in the structure and order of authentic interaction. Second, it reveals the “epistemic engine” that entrepreneurial teams use to demonstrate greater or lesser levels of knowing and to move to closure that is not marked by the full elimination of uncertainties but by the establishment of a shared sense of not knowing.Practical implicationsBy adhering to the detailed interactional focus of Conversation Analysis, this article emphasizes the value that the structure and order of entrepreneurial conversations can offer to research on entrepreneurship as practice. It points to future research on matters of effectuation and expertise that will be relevant to scholars and educators of entrepreneurship. It also helps to bridge the gap between scholarly research and entrepreneurial work as experienced by practitioners.Originality/valueThis article shows the mundane verbal means by which entrepreneurs account for uncertainties in their everyday work. It reframes entrepreneurial uncertainty, transforming it from a matter of cognition to an accomplishment of practice. It suggests that entrepreneurial uncertainty is a practical matter that is recognized by and accounted for in the conversations of entrepreneurial teams in context.


2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 125-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Cocciolo

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to answer the questions: Can students discern the difference between oral histories digitized at archival quality (96 kHz/24-bit) versus CD-quality (44.1 kHz/16-bit)? and How important do they believe this difference is? Digitization of analog audio recordings has become the recommended best practice in preserving and making available oral histories. Additionally, well-accepted standards in performing this work are available. However, there is relatively little research that addresses if individuals can hear a qualitative difference in recordings made with best practices versus those that have not. Design/methodology/approach – In all, 53 individuals participated in the study, where they listened to three sets of oral histories and had to decide which was the archival-quality recording versus the CD-quality recording and mark their answer on a survey. Findings – Students could discern less than half of the time on average which was the archival quality versus the CD-quality recording. Further, after listening to the differences, they most often indicated the difference was “a little bit important”. Practical implications – This research does not suggest that archivists abandon well-established sound digitization practices that produce results that audio archivists (and those able to hear fine-grain audio differences) find superior. Rather, it does imply that additional work may be needed to train listeners to discern these fine-grain differences, and appreciate the highest-fidelity replication of original audio recordings. Originality/value – This research addresses a gap in the literature by connecting audio digitization practices to its impact on listener perception.


2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 304-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Volo

Purpose This paper aims to discuss the evolution of tourism data and critically debates future perspective for producers and users of tourism data. Design/methodology/approach This paper provides a perspective on tourism data based on selected literature. Findings Industry developments, technological changes and novel methodologies have influenced tourism data sources. Closer attention to new data collection methods and novel analytics is required. Research limitations/implications A considerate and integrated system of tourism data (statistics, indicators, and big data) shall remain a priority for scholars and practitioners alike. Practical implications The thoughtful merging of tourists’ digital traces with industry data, the competences of data analysts and the theoretical strengths of tourism scholars will result in a redesign of the tourism data landscape. Social implications This perspective article provides a brief overview of the development and challenges related to the future use of tourism statistics, indicators and big data. Originality/value The paper offers a novel vision of tourism data by combining three different but complementary aspects of tourism data.


1999 ◽  
Vol 39 (9) ◽  
pp. 9-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Ashley ◽  
T. Hvitved-Jacobsen ◽  
J.-L. Bertrand-Krajewski

Over the past decade, considerable investment has been made in acquiring knowledge about in-sewer processes, with the objective of developing new analytical tools to predict the performance of these systems. A wide variety of these tools have emerged, from simple aggregated conceptual models of entire systems, to very detailed physically based relationships for particular processes such as suspended transport. The major investors in this research have been determined to produce commercial models which will form part of integrated system analysis suites of software for use in the formulation of holistic and optimum managerial methods for wastewater systems. Unfortunately, sewer processes are extremely complex, and the very limited investment, when compared proportionately with that made in hydrological and hydraulic analysis over previous decades, has produced apparently gaps in underlying knowledge which are not generally acknowledged. This paper reviews the current position with regard to sewer process modelling, highlighting areas where knowledge is still deficient, and where new opportunities and limitations are emerging.


JCSCORE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-39
Author(s):  
Zarrina Talan Azizova

This article represents a conceptual work that critiques and challenges traditional linear theoretical assumptions of academic socialization and integration that are often applied to research of diverse populations in academia in general and doctoral education specifically. The article further proposes a new conceptual framework of academic socialization as a meaning-making act of historically underrepresented doctoral students. The ultimate goal of the proposed framework is to reconcile the restrictive use of sociological macro- and micro- orientations to foreground possibilities of a conceptual and empirical focus on an individual meaning making act (as a form of individual agency) of historically underrepresented doctoral students within the critical contexts of academia. The proposed framework offers methodological and analytical tools for a more complex qualitative research and institutional/individual practice to account for increasingly diverse populations in higher education.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimmyn Parc ◽  
Jin Sup Jung

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze and compare the effects of conventional and unconventional FDI on the host country in a more comprehensive and systematic way. Design/methodology/approach Both the OLI paradigm and the imbalance theory are linked to the diamond model in order to compare the effects of conventional and unconventional FDI on the host country. This methodology is then applied to the real world as a case study, FDI toward the Korean automobile industry. Findings Conventional FDI is often said to be more beneficial to the host country than the unconventional type. However, the actual effect of unconventional FDI is shown to be more positive with better management and is often larger than perceived. Therefore, unconventional FDI emerges as important as conventional FDI for sustainable economic development. Practical implications In general, unconventional FDI has often been criticized severely because of misperceptions derived from the dominance of conventional FDI on theoretical aspects, incomprehensive perspectives toward assessing the effects of FDI, and negative political views. Therefore, rigorous and holistic case study analyses based on solid analytical tools are needed in order to better understand the effects of unconventional FDI and to draw up effective and proper FDI promotion policies. Originality/value This paper provides a way to better understand the effect of unconventional FDI on the host country comprehensively and systematically by expanding and deepening existing theories. Based on this, the effects of conventional and unconventional FDI on the host country are compared theoretically and empirically, particularly with the case of the Korean automobile industry.


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