scholarly journals THE ROLE OF VISUAL MODALITY IN LANGUAGE VITALITY AND MAINTENANCE

2021 ◽  
pp. 19-30
Author(s):  
Светлана Игоревна Буркова
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Visual Modality ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
Written Form ◽  
Everyday Communication

В статье на примере русского жестового языка (РЖЯ) делается попытка показать, что инструменты оценки жизнеспособности и сохранности языка, разработанные на материале звуковых языков, не вполне подходят для оценки жизнеспособности и сохранности жестовых языков. Если, например, оценивать жизнеспособность РЖЯ по шестибалльной шкале в системе «девяти факторов», предложенной в документе ЮНЕСКО (Language vitality…, 2003) и используемой в Атласе языков, находящихся под угрозой исчезновения, то эта оценка составит не более 3 баллов, т. е. РЖЯ будет характеризоваться как язык, находящийся под угрозой исчезновения. Это бесписьменный язык, преимущественно используемый в сфере бытового общения, существующий в окружении функционально несопоставимо более мощного русского звукового языка; подавляющее большинство носителей РЖЯ являются билингвами, в той или иной степени владеющими русским звуковым языком в его устной или письменной форме; большая часть носителей РЖЯ усваивают жестовый язык не в семье, с рождения, а в более позднем возрасте; условия усвоения РЖЯ влияют на языковую компетенцию его носителей; окружающий русский звуковой язык влияет на лексику и грамматику РЖЯ; этот язык остается пока недостаточно изученным и слабо задокументированным, и т. д. Однако в действительности РЖЯ в этих условиях стабильно сохраняется, а в последнее время даже расширяет свой словарный состав и сферы использования. Главный фактор, который обеспечивает сохранность жестового языка и который не учитывается в существующих методиках, предназначенных для оценки витальности языков — это модальность, в которой существует жестовый язык. Глухие люди, в силу того что им недоступна или плохо доступна аудиальная модальность, не могут полностью перейти на звуковой язык. Наиболее естественной для коммуникации для них остается визуальная модальность, при этом современные средства связи и интернет открывают дополнительные возможности для подержания и развития языка в визуальной модальности. The paper discusses sociolinguistic aspects of Russian Sign Language (RSL) and attempts to show that the tools used to access the degree of language vitality, which were developed for spoken languages, are not quite suitable to access vitality of sign languages. For example, if to try to assess the vitality of RSL in terms of six-point scale of the “nine factors” system proposed by UNESCO (Language vitality ..., 2003), which is used in the Atlas of Endangered Languages, the assessment of RSL would be no more than 3 points. In other words, RSL would be characterized as an endangered language. It is an unwritten language, mainly used in everyday communication; it exists in the environment of functionally much more powerful spoken Russian; the overwhelming majority of RSL signers are bilinguals, they use spoken Russian, at least in its written form; most deaf children acquire RSL not in the family, from birth, but later in life, at kindergartens or schools; the conditions of RSL acquisition affect the deaf signers’ language proficiency, as well as spoken Russian affects RSL’s lexicon and grammar; RSL still remains insufficiently studied and poorly documented, etc. However, RSL, as a native communication system of the Deaf, based on visual modality, is not only well maintained, but even expands some spheres of use. The main factor, which supports maintenance of RSL and which is not taken into account in the existing tools to access the degree of language vitality is visual modality. The auditory modality is inaccessible or poorly accessible for the deaf, so they can not completely shift to spoken Russian. Visual modality remains the most natural for their communication. In addition, modern technologies and the internet provide much more opportunities for the existence of RSL in this modality and for its development.

Language Archiving

2018 ◽  
pp. 346-369
Author(s):  
Andrea L. Berez-Kroeker ◽  
Ryan Henke
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Language Documentation ◽  
Digital Archiving ◽  
Endangered Language ◽  
History Of ◽  
Participatory Model ◽  
User Centered

In this chapter, the authors examine the role of language archiving in endangered-language scholarship. First they explore the history of archiving for endangered languages, from the age of Boas and the archiving of analog materials through the rise of the endangered-language movement and the development of best practices for digital archiving to the current era of established archiving standards. Then they discuss a potential future for language archiving, that of the participatory model of language archiving, which is radically user-centered and draws on trends in the archival sciences. Next they present some of the extant archives for language documentation, the members of the Digital Endangered Languages and Music Archiving Network. Finally, because archiving is an activity that is now available to anyone undertaking endangered-language work, they close by presenting the steps one would take to work with an archive to deposit one’s own materials.

Teaching Vietnamese to Deaf Children Using Sign Languages: Situations and Solutions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hien Do Thi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Tremendous Progress ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
The Impact

Human civilization has made tremendous progress, to improve its quality of life. However, there are still a number of people in society who suffer from grave disadvantages due to their disabilities. There are many reasons for this phenomenon, and even though science is rapidly developing, it is impossible to completely erase those causes. Ameliorating education and offering vocational training for the disabled are considered as effective solutions to provide these people with a satisfying life, especially children. For deaf children, the dream of normal schooling becomes great. Limited language proficiency leads to limited communication skills and reduces confidence when entering the first grade, adversely affecting their academic performance and later development. Therefore, in this article, we focus on first grade deaf children. Like the impact of normal language on normal children, sign language plays an important role in language development of deaf children. They use sign language to think and communicate. However, to study in textbook programs as does a normal child, in the classroom of deaf children, both the teachers and students must use finger alphabets to teach and learn Vietnamese. We thus study teaching Vietnamese to deaf children and suggest games to draw their attention to the lessons.

scholarly journals Sign languages: Then and now

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-314
Author(s):  
Ljubica Isaković ◽  
Tamara Kovačević ◽  
Maja Srzić
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Deaf People ◽  
General Development ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Oral Speech ◽  
Complete Rejection ◽  
Everyday Communication ◽  
Written Speech

A way of communication on an equal footing with oral and written speech is sign language. Oral speech is a common way of communication, written speech has, with the development of information technologies, been taking up more and more space. In a parallel with them, communication can also take place through sign language, which is, to deaf people, as well as to all those who use it, a natural, simple and easy way to communicate. Relationship towards sign language has changed significantly throughout history from acceptance and isolated use, to complete rejection, and then to encouraging its adoption and emphasizing its importance for the cognitive, emotional, educational, social, and general development of deaf children. Serbian Sign Language (SSL) serves deaf people in Serbia as a means for everyday communication, for expressing desires, willingness, for learning, for intellectual discussions, for expressing personal style. Although the standardization of the Serbian Sign Language was completed in 2015, even nowadays we may still find certain gestures of expression varying in different regions. Different countries have different sign languages that are not reciprocally understood in use. They are distinguished by their own grammar (semantics, morphology, and syntax), different from the grammar of spoken languages. The distinguishing and recognition of sign languages in the world has led to changes in the field of education of deaf children. In bilingual schools, children acquire both sign and spoken languages, and teachers know both of the mentioned languages. The importance of sign language in the education of deaf children is emphasized.

scholarly journals Facial responses during listening predict authenticity judgments of vocal emotions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cesar Lima ◽  
Patricia Arriaga ◽  
Andrey Anikin ◽  
Ana Rita Pires ◽  
Sofia Frade ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Models ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Visual Modality ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses ◽  
Nonverbal Vocalizations ◽  
Electrodermal Responses ◽  
Arousal Effect ◽  
Sensorimotor Mechanisms

The ability to recognize the emotions of others is a crucial skill. In the visual modality, sensorimotor mechanisms provide an important route for emotion recognition. Perceiving facial expressions often evokes activity in facial muscles and in motor and somatosensory systems, and this activity relates to performance in emotion tasks. It remains unclear, however, whether and how similar mechanisms extend to audition. To address this issue, we examined facial electromyographic and electrodermal responses to nonverbal vocalizations that varied in emotional authenticity. Participants (N = 100) passively listened to laughs and cries that could reflect a genuine or a posed emotion. Bayesian mixed models indicated that listening to laughter evoked stronger facial responses than listening to crying. These responses were sensitive to emotional authenticity. Genuine laughs evoked more activity than posed laughs in the zygomaticus and orbicularis, muscles typically associated with positive affect. We also found that activity in the orbicularis and corrugator related to performance in a subsequent authenticity detection task. Stronger responses in the orbicularis predicted improved recognition of genuine laughs. Stronger responses in the corrugator, a muscle associated with negative affect, predicted improved recognition of posed laughs. Moreover, genuine laughs elicited stronger skin conductance responses than posed laughs. This arousal effect did not predict task performance, though. For crying, physiological responses were not associated with authenticity judgments. Altogether, these findings indicate that emotional authenticity affects peripheral nervous system responses to vocalizations. They point to a role of sensorimotor mechanisms in the evaluation of authenticity in the auditory modality.

A study of Importance of English Language Proficiency in Hospitality Industry and the Role of Hospitality Educators in Enhancing the Same Amongst The Students

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arati Prabhu ◽  
Prachi Wani
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Hospitality Industry ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Hotel Management ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Teaching Learning

The study is undertaken to understand the importance of English language skills in the Indian hospitality industry, and the gaps therein. It studies the challenge as it exists in Pune city, and how AISSMS College of Hotel Management & Catering Technology has attempted to address the issue(s). The study aims at gathering primary information by means of questionnaires. It sheds light on the gap between existing and desired standards of English proficiency. It also highlights the attempts by the three important stakeholders in order to address the issue. Though, attempts are made from the industry, teachers and students, it is recognized that joint efforts need to be made to tackle the problem collectively and from all sides. It is an urgent calling for innovative teaching learning practices and encouraging sound develop initiatives and commitment. The primary data is across the cross section of Pune hoteliers, teachers and students of the college. The findings reflect the importance of English as the universal medium of communication, and its importance in rendering quality service and importantly.

Dialogic Teaching and Translanguaging in Deaf Education

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Swanwick
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Deaf Education ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Diverse Learning ◽  
Language Context ◽  
Pedagogical Framework

This chapter proposes a pedagogical framework for deaf education that builds on a sociocultural perspective and the role of interaction in learning. Pedagogical principles are argued that recognize the dialogic nature of learning and teaching and the role of language as “the tool of all tools” in this process. Building on established work on classroom talk in deaf education, the issues of dialogue in deaf education are extended to consider deaf children’s current learning contexts and their diverse and plural use of sign and spoken languages. Within this broad language context, the languaging and translanguaging practices of learners and teachers are explained as central to a pedagogical framework that is responsive to the diverse learning needs of deaf children. Within this pedagogical framework practical teaching strategies are suggested that draw on successful approaches in the wider field of language learning and take into account the particular learning experience and contexts of deaf children.

scholarly journals The Metamorphosis of Written Devotion in the Age of Vatican II (c. 1948–c. 1998) in Hungary—Guestbooks in Hungarian Marian Shrines

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 235
Author(s):  
Krisztina Frauhammer
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Combined Effect ◽  
Public Realm ◽  
The Public ◽  
Written Form ◽  
Personal Prayer ◽  
The Church

This article presents the Hungarian manifestations of a written devotional practice that emerged in the second half of the 20th century worldwide: the rite of writing prayers in guestbooks or visitors’ books and spontaneously leaving prayer slips in shrines. Guestbooks or visitors’ books, a practice well known in museums and exhibitions, have appeared in Hungarian shrines for pilgrims to record requests, prayers, and declarations of gratitude. This is an unusual use of guestbooks, as, unlike regular guestbook entries, they contain personal prayers, which are surprisingly honest and self-reflective. Another curiosity of the books and slips is that anybody can see and read them, because they are on display in the shrines, mostly close to the statue of Virgin Mary. They allow the researcher to observe a special communication situation, the written representation of an informal, non-formalised, personal prayer. Of course, this is not unknown in the practice of prayer; what is new here is that it takes place in the public realm of a shrine, in written form. This paper seeks answers to the question of what genre antecedents, what patterns of behaviour, and which religious practices have led to the development of this recent practice of devotion in the examined period in Hungarian Catholic shrines. In connection with this issue, this paper would like to draw attention to the combined effect of the following three factors: the continuity of traditions, the emergence of innovative elements and the role of the church as an institution. Their parallel interactions help us to understand the guestbooks of the shrines.

Missed Opportunity: How Induction Policy Fails to Explicitly Address English Learner-Classified Students

2021 ◽  
pp. 002248712110000
Author(s):  
Lucrecia Santibañez ◽  
Christine Snyder ◽  
Danielle Centeno
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Induction ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Teaching Skills ◽  
English Learner ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Teaching Knowledge ◽  
Classified Students ◽  
Specific Teaching ◽  
Missed Opportunity

English Learner-classified (ELC) students are one of the nation’s most marginalized student populations. One promising but understudied strategy to strengthen teaching of ELC students is teacher induction. This article examines the role of teacher induction in strengthening novice teachers’ EL-specific teaching knowledge and skills. Through a detailed analysis of induction in California, we find that the state has little external assurance that teachers who have undergone induction can meet ELC students’ unique and diverse needs. California’s decentralized, flexible, teacher-led induction may support teachers’ development of general teaching skills, but misses an opportunity to support teachers in an area where many of them struggle. The study raises other problematic issues around mentoring for equity such as monolithic views of ELC students, lack of timely and actionable information about language proficiency, and lack of guidance as to what constitutes acceptable evidence of competency teaching ELC students.

scholarly journals Inhibitory and facilitatory effects of phonological and orthographic similarity on L2 word recognition across modalities in bilinguals

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Candice Frances ◽  
Eugenia Navarra-Barindelli ◽  
Clara D. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Theoretical Implication ◽  
Phonological Similarity ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Visual Modality ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
Orthographic Similarity ◽  
Special Category

AbstractLanguage perception studies on bilinguals often show that words that share form and meaning across languages (cognates) are easier to process than words that share only meaning. This facilitatory phenomenon is known as the cognate effect. Most previous studies have shown this effect visually, whereas the auditory modality as well as the interplay between type of similarity and modality remain largely unexplored. In this study, highly proficient late Spanish–English bilinguals carried out a lexical decision task in their second language, both visually and auditorily. Words had high or low phonological and orthographic similarity, fully crossed. We also included orthographically identical words (perfect cognates). Our results suggest that similarity in the same modality (i.e., orthographic similarity in the visual modality and phonological similarity in the auditory modality) leads to improved signal detection, whereas similarity across modalities hinders it. We provide support for the idea that perfect cognates are a special category within cognates. Results suggest a need for a conceptual and practical separation between types of similarity in cognate studies. The theoretical implication is that the representations of items are active in both modalities of the non-target language during language processing, which needs to be incorporated to our current processing models.

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