scholarly journals The narrative of an ordinary member of language community: WHERE and WHY is dialecticity of a locality created

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Daiva Aliūkaitė ◽  
Danguolė Mikulėnienė
Keyword(s):  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Standard Language ◽  
Perceptual Dialectology ◽  
First Case ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Ordinary Member ◽  
Emic Perspective ◽  
Distinct Features ◽  
Emic And Etic

The paper aims to explore where and why an ordinary member of language community creates the dialecticity of a locality and evaluate whether (and how) the dialect artefact of an ordinary member of language community is related with the dialecticity recognised and estimated by researchers, or, in other words, discuss the interaction of the emic and etic perspectives.The empirical basis for the discussion about the interaction of the emic and etic perspectives is formed on the verbalised and visualised language attitudes of the ordinary members of language community and the data of the text-stimuli perceptions gathered during the project “The Position of Standard Language in the Mental Map of the Lithuanian Language” carried out in 2014–2016 and supplied with the data of the ongoing project “Distribution of Regional Variants and Quasistandard Language at the Beginning of the 21st Century: Perceptual Approach (Perceptual Categorisation of Variants”, 2017–2019.The respondents of both projects are the first-fourth year grammar school pupils whom the scholars associate with the emic perspective. The first attempt concerned the data related with the verbalised and visualised (in the drawn maps) language attitudes of 1.415 teenagers; the second one analysed the data related with the verbalised and visualised (in the drawn maps) language attitudes of 1.064 youngsters and the data of the perception of the text-stimuli recorded in an adequate dialect. Both projects are interrelated with regard to the subject matter and the pursued goals: in the first case, an attempt was made to analyse the geolinguistic competence of an ordinary member of language community; in the second one, an additional aspect of the perceptual abilities of an ordinary member of language community was considered.During the performance of the two projects the essential criterion for the selection of the locations in the regions of Lithuania to be explored was whether they were (non)marked by dialect. Hence the respondent groups were formed in the regiolect and/or geolect zones, and in the second project the task of the text-stimuli perception had motivated the inclusion of the Lithuanian cities.The problem of how an ordinary member of language community creates the dialecticity of a location has been approached on the basis of the data given in the drawn maps presented in the two projects.The participants of the first project have drawn the so called perceptual isoglosses in two maps, i.e. in one map they have marked the areas where people speak in dialect and, in the other, where standard language was used. Meanwhile, the participants of the second project in their drawn maps related the linguistic homeland with other locations due to the similarity (or simultaneity) of expression. They also had to draw the maps of standard language and, in addition, localise 8 text-stimuli given to them for assessment which contained the 14–19 seconds fragments of spontaneous speech representing various regiolectic zones.To summarise the obtained results, it should be claimed that etic and emic discourses should be essentially related to the cause and effect factor. The narrative of an ordinary member of language community not only reveals the specific interior relationships but is also affected from outside. Such an insight is determined by the interaction between the created dialecticity of a locality and the dialecticity of localities legitimated in scientific discourse.The results obtained in both projects on perceptual dialectology show that the dialecticity of a locality has been constructed on the basis of adequate etic information: it is obvious from the drawn maps that dialecticity is attracted by the localities that are highly dialect-oriented, i.e. the geolectic and regiolectic areas. This assumption is based on the localisation of the text-stimulus having the most distinct features of dialect which confirms that dialect recognition by the ordinary members of language community does not enter into conflict with the researcher's evaluation from outside. Thus it shows that localities do consistently attract the text-stimuli having the most distinct features of dialect.Meanwhile, as a place of dialect levelling, the capital (or any city) accurately correlates with the NORM reflection of traditional dialectology.The paper summarises that it is not clear yet in what ways the constructors of the narrative from inside are affected by the narratives from outside. There is no tradition formed in the works on perceptual dialectology and no adequate methodological instruments have been devised which might help to find out the sources of knowledge, images and attitudes of the ordinary members of language community. Hence, in order to more clearly describe the relationship between the narrative of a researcher and that of an ordinary member of language community it would be reasonable to move an additional step forward – to expand the instrumentarium and methods of research by including the reflections of the ordinary members of language community regarding the knowledge, images and attitudes that they possess in the field of dialecticity. Thus a new perspective in dialectology should be initiated.

scholarly journals Sustainability of Dialecticity in the City: The Perspective of the Emic Narrative Constructor

2020 ◽  
pp. 85-100
Author(s):  
Daiva Aliūkaitė
Keyword(s):  
Language Attitudes ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Perceptual Dialectology ◽  
Language Environment ◽  
Ordinary Member ◽  
Emic Perspective ◽  
The Given ◽  
The City ◽  
Empirical Material

The paper approaches the dialect-exploratory discourse, which concerns the interpretation of sustainability of dialecticity in the city. The given research aims at the evaluation of the sustainability of dialecticity in the city by performing the analysis of the emic narrative, i. e. the narrative of an ordinary member of the language community. In the city zones, the natural horizontal language continuum is disturbed; hence, from the perspective of etic, or the researcher, the problem of the co-existence, competition, levelling, etc. of different regional variants arises. What regards the emic perspective and the methodological inventory allowing for its formation, it should be stressed that it concerns the identification of the dialecticity conditions, or conditions determining variability that includes dialects. The emic narrative, or in other words, the I think that ... narrative, when reconstructed based on the empirical material collected for the research in perceptual dialectology embracing three Lithuanian cities, gives a piece of proper information to model the here and now and, to some extent, the future dialecticity projections. When discussing the problem of sustainability of dialecticity, the author concentrates on the segments of the reconstructed emic narrative that cover the reflection of language behaviour, estimation of language environment and a priori language attitudes toward the use of dialect codes.

scholarly journals Sustainability of dialecticity in the regions of Lithuania: the perspective of the EMIC narrative constructor

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Daiva Aliūkaitė
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Young People ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Perceptual Dialectology ◽  
Ordinary Member ◽  
Age Category

The paper expands on the problem of sustainability of dialecticity, i.e. the conditions and the potential of the dialect codes in the regions of Lithuania based on the data of the project “Distribution of Regional Variants and Quasistandard Language at the Beginning of the 21st Century: Perceptual Approach (Perceptual Categorisation of Variants)”. It aims to reveal whether and to what extent the narrative of an ordinary member of a language community allows to approach regional dialecticity via the dimension of (non)sustainability of dialecticity.The empirical basis for the analytical discourse developed in the paper was constructed from the data revealing the language attitudes of 910 young persons from 21 regional points (which in the etic narratives were estimated as includable into the zone of the already formed (or forming) variant on the basis of the traditional dialect), fixed by applying the instrumentarium worked out in perceptual dialectology (PD).Having generalised the data of language self-observation and acknowledgement of dialecticity in the micro-/macro-environment, it might be claimed that, in the region of Lowland dialecticity, the areas of the sustainable dialecticity dominate: here, no less than 2/3 of the community might be estimated as having the potential to choose and realise the dialect code.The PD research including the young Highland people, which was based on the comparative analysis of the data, concerning the application of the language behaviour of young people and their a priori attitudes toward the spread of the dialect code, led to the observation that the following ab intus estimations of the dialect codes have been constructed: I am more tolerant toward it; I show less attempt at self-identification.It should be stressed that, in the regions of Highland dialecticity, not merely the areas of the sustainable dialecticity have been fixed, where the communal members firmly positioned their identity as active (im)permanent representatives of the dialect code. The emic narratives reconstructed from the PD research data allowed to distinguish the areas of the relatively sustainable dialecticity, where only around 1/2 of communal members might be identified as the active (im)permanent representatives of the dialect code, and the areas of the unsustainable dialecticity where only 1/3 and less of the communal members were apt to recognise their dialect identification.The holistic estimation of both the Lowland and the Highland dialecticity, based on the reconstructed fragments of the emic narratives revealing the tendencies of code adjustment, led to the conclusion that Lowland dialecticity should be claimed as more sustainable.It should be maintained that the concluding remarks are based on the reconstruction of the emic narratives of the group of recipient participants who represent one age category. Therefore, to achieve a more accurate (non)sustainability discourse in dialectology, further steps are required, e.g. the PD research should include the recipients of various age groups; the results obtained in the PD analysis should be compared with the data of direct observation, etc.

scholarly journals Language loyalty and ethnolinguistic solidarity of members of the Slovak language community in Vojvodina

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 155-169
Author(s):  
Dalibor Sokolovic
Keyword(s):  
Initial Phase ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Linguistic Description ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Slovak Language ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Important Constituent

This paper analyses the impact of linguistic loyalty and solidarity on the preservation of the Slovak language community in Vojvodina. These factors represent an essential element in the model of linguistic description of a language community in a minority position. In the first part of the paper, we present the structure and components of ethnolinguistic solidarity of the Slovak community in Vojvodina, and in the second we show results of the survey conducted in 2014 among members of the community related to the level of their linguistic loyalty. Language attitudes of members of the Slovak language community in Vojvodina presented in this analysis bring us new insight into the structure of ethnolinguistic solidarity and reveal the reasons and motivation of their linguistic loyalty, or the absence of it. Vojvodinian Slovaks consider their own language as the most important constituent of their ethnicity, but the survey nonetheless also identified characteristics of the initial phase of the process of language relativisation, as well as a reduction of its role as the cultural marker of the community.

scholarly journals Ego-zones: non-symmetric dependencies reveal network groups with large and dense overlaps

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Milos Kudelka ◽  
Eliska Ochodkova ◽  
Sarka Zehnalova ◽  
Jakub Plesnik
Keyword(s):  
Network Structure ◽  
Real World ◽  
Ground Truth ◽  
Structural Similarity ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Overlapping Communities ◽  
Detection Algorithms ◽  
First Case ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Individual

Abstract The existence of groups of nodes with common characteristics and the relationships between these groups are important factors influencing the structures of social, technological, biological, and other networks. Uncovering such groups and the relationships between them is, therefore, necessary for understanding these structures. Groups can either be found by detection algorithms based solely on structural analysis or identified on the basis of more in-depth knowledge of the processes taking place in networks. In the first case, these are mainly algorithms detecting non-overlapping communities or communities with small overlaps. The latter case is about identifying ground-truth communities, also on the basis of characteristics other than only network structure. Recent research into ground-truth communities shows that in real-world networks, there are nested communities or communities with large and dense overlaps which we are not yet able to detect satisfactorily only on the basis of structural network properties.In our approach, we present a new perspective on the problem of group detection using only the structural properties of networks. Its main contribution is pointing out the existence of large and dense overlaps of detected groups. We use the non-symmetric structural similarity between pairs of nodes, which we refer to as dependency, to detect groups that we call zones. Unlike other approaches, we are able, thanks to non-symmetry, accurately to describe the prominent nodes in the zones which are responsible for large zone overlaps and the reasons why overlaps occur. The individual zones that are detected provide new information associated in particular with the non-symmetric relationships within the group and the roles that individual nodes play in the zone. From the perspective of global network structure, because of the non-symmetric node-to-node relationships, we explore new properties of real-world networks that describe the differences between various types of networks.

scholarly journals Genesis of textural contrasts in subsurface soil horizons in the Northern Pantanal-Brazil

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 1113-1127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Ferreira do Nascimento ◽  
Sheila Aparecida Correia Furquim ◽  
Eduardo Guimarães Couto ◽  
Raphael Moreira Beirigo ◽  
Jairo Calderari de Oliveira Júnior ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Soil Morphology ◽  
Mato Grosso ◽  
Sedimentary Evolution ◽  
First Case ◽  
Depositional System ◽  
Subsurface Soil ◽  
Distinct Features ◽  
Sedimentation Processes

The Pantanal region can be characterized as a quaternary floodplain with predominant sedimentation in the form of alluvial fans. In the geomorphologic and sedimentary evolution, the avulsion process is inherent to this depositional system and its dynamics, together with surface water floods, influence soil sedimentation on this plain. The knowledge and differentiation of these two events can contribute to a better understanding of the variability of soil properties and distribution under the influence of these sedimentation processes. Therefore, this study investigated the genesis of soils in the Northern Pantanal with textural contrasts in deeper horizons and their relationship with the depositional system dynamics. We analyzed four soil profiles in the region of Barão de Melgaço, Mato Grosso State, Brazil (RPPN SESC Pantanal). Two profiles were sampled near the Rio Cuiabá (AP1 and AP4) and two near the Rio São Lourenço (AP10 and AP11). In AP11, the horizons contrast in particle size between the profile basis and the surface. In AP1, AP4 and AP10, the horizons overlaying the sand layer have similar particle size properties, mainly in terms of sand distribution. In the first case, floods (surface water) seem to have originated the horizons and layers with contrasting texture. In the second case, avulsion is the most pronounced process. Therefore, the two modes can form soils with contrasting texture that are discriminable by soil morphology, based on the distinct features associated to the specific sedimentation processes.

The Classification of Rewritten Scripture: A Plea for Retaining the Emic Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jozef Tiňo
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Genre Classification ◽  
Heuristic Device ◽  
Emic Perspective ◽  
Emic And Etic

AbstractThe most recent discussions concerned with Rewritten Scripture compositions have been dominated by different views on whether or not it is plausible to subsume such texts within a single genre. While some scholars are convinced that we can only talk of a literary strategy, others hold that genre classification is applicable. Anders Klostergaard Petersen recently introduced the distinction between emic and etic perspectives into the debate, while denying plausibility of the former when Rewritten Scripture compositions are considered in terms of genre. The present article attempts to argue that the emic perspective can plausibly be applied in the case of Rewritten Scripture studies, representing a useful heuristic device.

Genre and linguistic expectation shift: Evidence from pop song lyrics

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Squires
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Language Ideology ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Context Information ◽  
Popular Song ◽  
Standard Language ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Morphosyntactic Variation ◽  
Song Lyrics

AbstractPopular song lyrics constitute an exception to dominant, standard language ideologies of English: nonstandard grammatical forms are common, relatively unstigmatized, and even enregistered in the genre. This project uses song lyrics to test whether genre cues can shift linguistic expectations, influencing how speakers process morphosyntactic variants. In three self-paced reading experiments, participants read sentences from pop songs. Test sentences contained either ‘standard’ NPSG + doesn't or ‘nonstandard’ NPSG + don't. In Experiment 1, some participants were told that the sentences came from lyrics, while others received no context information. Experiment 2 eliminated other nonstandardisms in the stimuli, and Experiment 3 tested for the effect of stronger context information. Genre information caused participants to orient to the sentences differently, which partially—but not straightforwardly—mitigated surprisal at nonstandard don't. I discuss future directions for understanding the effects of context on sociolinguistic processing, which I argue can inform concepts like genre and enregisterment, and the processes underlying language attitudes. (Morphosyntactic variation, genre, invariant don't, language ideology, pop songs, experimental sociolinguistics, sentence processing)*

Dialect perceptions in real time: A restudy of Miami-Cuban perceptions

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 74-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela G. Alfaraz
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Intergroup Relations ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Demographic Changes ◽  
Cuban Spanish ◽  
Perceptual Dialectology ◽  
Over Time

Perceptual dialectology investigates nonlinguists’ beliefs about their own and other varieties. This paper fills a gap in longitudinal research in this area with a restudy of the perceptions of Miami Cubans carried out twelve years after the first study. Perceptions are examined in relation to social and demographic changes with a sample of 84 participants of Cuban origin who responded to a questionnaire about the correctness of regional varieties of Spanish. The results showed that perceptions of non-Cuban varieties remained relatively stable over time, continuing to correlate with race and poverty. Perceptions toward the Cuban Spanish of the Miami community were also stable and, as in the earlier study, were highly positive, reflecting strong beliefs in its correctness-status. In contrast, perceptions of Cuban Spanish on the island were significantly more negative; it was ranked the least correct of the regional varieties evaluated. Factors underlying perceptions are examined in relation to demographic changes, political ideology, and beliefs about race and poverty. This paper highlights the contribution of the longitudinal study of dialect perceptions to the understanding of language attitudes, intergroup relations, and language change.

scholarly journals Guangdong Residents’ Perceptions of Chinese Dialects: A Pilot Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuying Ou
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Guangdong Province ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Perceptual Dialectology ◽  
Chinese Dialects ◽  
Economic Influence

Perceptual dialectology (PD) is branch of sociolinguistics which investigates ordinary people’s (non-linguists) perceptions about different dialects in the language community they are living in. Most of the PD research was implemented in Europe or America, with little attention devoted to China, a country with many kinds of dialects. Applying Preston’s (1981) tool for PD studies: draw-a-map task, this research analyzed dialect maps drawn from 13 respondents, who were college students from Guangdong province, China. It aimed to find out how Guangdong residents perceive Chinese dialects. There are three major findings: (1) respondents used provincial boundaries to differentiate dialect areas but did not agree on their distribution; (2) Yue dialect and Wu dialect were thought to be more pleasant; (3) respondents were concerned about economic influence on dialects and dialect protection.

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