scholarly journals Geopolitical concepts of Central Europe and current reality: language perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 13-27
Author(s):  
Bořivoj Hnízdo
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Main Research ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Geopolitical Region ◽  
Social Linguistics ◽  
Visegrad Group ◽  
Main Language

The article presents a critical analysis of the theory of geopolitical understanding of Central Europe, basing on the evaluation of region’s contemporary situation and supported by the empirical data. The main research question is the following: is it possible in recent situation to still speak of Central Europe as a geopolitical region? The article is focused on the three traditional geopolitical concepts of Central Europe considered from the perspective of the current role of Germany as a traditional communication factor in this region. First, the idea of Mitteleuropa is analysed. Then, the perspectives of the Visegrad, concept of Austria-Hungary legacy and finaly CENTROPE are closely viewed. Analysis is mostly based on empirical data available in the official documents published by EU institutions as well as official national statistical data of Central European countries. Adopted research method is a combination of historical, political geography and social linguistics approaches to the topic. The concept of Central Europe with its centre in the German-speaking countries may be currently economically and politically significant, especially from a pan-European perspective, however German linguistic hegemony is not present in any of the neighbouring countries. Furthermore, the Visegrad Group today does not include all regions and states and German is not considered there as the main language of communication.

The role of second language in higher education: A case study of German students at a Dutch university

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lidy Zijlmans ◽  
Anneke Neijt ◽  
Roeland van Hout
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Main Language

AbstractThis article reports on an investigation of the challenges and benefits of university students taking a degree course in a language other than their mother tongue. Our study was conducted from the point of view of the non-native students themselves, and our primary concern was the role of language. We investigated the academic achievement of German students studying in a Dutch-English academic environment. Dutch is the main language of instruction, and English the main language of the literature used. In search of predictors for successful learning of Dutch (our first research question), LexTALE tests were administered to determine linguistic competence in the students’ first language, German, and their second language, English. In addition, we collected data on their educational background and language learning history. None of the LexTALE scores stood out as ‘the’ predictor for success in learning Dutch; German was a slightly better predictor than English. The best predictor appeared to be the students’ general educational level, expressed in mean grades for final exams in secondary education. We then studied the role of proficiency in the foreign languages needed for academic success. Language data on L3 Dutch were gathered at the start and were compared to study results after the first six months and at the end of the first year. The level of Dutch as a second language correlated with study results, expressed in ECTS; the correlation was even higher with mean grades on exams. This indicates that language proficiency does play a role in study success.

scholarly journals Suomen mukana ja mukaan seuralaisuussuhteen ilmaisijoina: kiintopisteen ilmaisukeinot, konstruktiot ja osallistujien symmetriaero

Virittäjä ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista Ojutkangas
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Research Question ◽  
The Other ◽  
Syntactic Variation ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
The Asymmetry ◽  
Grammatical Roles ◽  
The 19Th Century

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää, millaisissa konstruktioissa suomen seuralaisuutta ilmaisevat mukana ja mukaan esiintyvät. Seuralaisuussuhteelle on tyypillistä, että suhteen osallistujat tai vähintään kiintopiste ovat ihmisiä ja että osallistujien välillä on symmetriaero: seuralainen (engl. companion) osallistuu tilanteeseen epäsuorasti, seurattavan (engl. accompanee) välityksellä. Suomen grammeille ominaiseen tapaan mukana- ja mukaan-sanoja käytetään syntaktisesti monenlaisissa asemissa siten, että kiintopisteen (seurattavan) ilmaisun tyyppi vaihtelee. Tutkimuksessa selvitetäänkin, mikä on kiintopisteen ilmaisutavan rooli siinä, miten seuralaisuussuhteen osallistujien välinen epäsymmetria hahmottuu. Tutkimuksen syntaktisessa luokittelussa pidetään lähtökohtana postpositiokonstruktiota, jossa osallistujien välisen symmetriaeron voi katsoa perustuvan kiintopisteen viitepisteroolin kautta grammin semantiikkaan (tyyppi lapio oli kaivajan mukana). Symmetriaero sen sijaan voimistuu, kun kiintopiste edustuu omistusliitteen välityksellä subjektina (tyyppi hän otti lapion mukaansa) tai kun se ilmaistaan teemapaikalla paikallissijaisena adverbiaalina (tyyppi hänellä oli lapio mukana[an]). Symmetriaero sen sijaan heikkenee, jos (toissijainen) kiintopiste ilmaistaan adverbiaalina muualla kuin teemapaikalla (tyyppi hän oli mukana kaivamassa), ja vetäytyy taustatiedoksi, kun kiintopistettä ei ilmaista lainkaan (tyyppi hän on mukana). Tutkimus perustuu aineistoon, jossa ovat edustettuina 1800-luvun kirjakieli, Lauseopin arkiston murrehaastattelut ja nykykirjakieli. Aineisto osoittaa, että mukana- ja mukaan-grammeilla ilmaistuissa seuralaisuussuhteissa on tapahtunut muutos: 1800-luvun kirjakielen ja pääosin 1960-luvulla tallennetun murreaineiston esiintymissä yleisin kiintopiste on ihminen, kun taas nykykirjakielen aineistossa kiintopisteeksi hahmottuu tyypillisimmin toiminta. Kiintopisteen semanttinen tyyppi ja sen kielellinen ilmaisukeino ovat suorassa suhteessa toisiinsa. Ihmiskiintopiste ilmaistaan yleisimmin subjektin kanssa samaviitteisellä omistusliitteellä tai teemapaikkaisella paikallissijaisella elementillä ja toimintakiintopiste puolestaan ei-teemapaikkaisella paikallissijaisella elementillä. Eri ilmaisukeinot jakautuvat eri verbien ympärille rakentuvien konstruktioiden kesken. Tutkimuksen perusteella voi todeta, että esiintymäkonstruktiolla on merkittävä rooli siinä, millaista seuralaisuutta mukana- tai mukaan-grammilla kuvataan.   Finnish mukana and mukaan ‘with, along’ as comitative markers: Grammatical roles of expressions of the landmarks, constructions, and asymmetry between the participants of the accompaniment relation The topic of this article is the syntax of Finnish comitative markers mukana and mukaan ’with, along’. Comitative markers express accompaniment relations, which are typically conceived as being asymmetrical: the accompanee (landmark) is the pre-dominant participant, while the companion (trajector) is involved in the situation only via the accompanee (see Stolz et al. 2006: 26–27). However, markers such as mukana and mukaan are used in several syntactic constructions where the grammatical roles of expressions of the accompanees/landmarks vary. The main research question of the article is, how does the grammatical role of expression of the accompanee/landmark affect the asymmetry between the participants of the accompaniment relation. Five syntactic construction types were analysed from a corpus data. On the basis of this study, it is shown that syntactic variation has an effect on the conceived asymmetry between the accompanee and the companion, and that syntax makes an important contribution to the semantics of comitative constructions. In strongly asymmetric accompaniment relations, a human accompanee is expressed by a possessive suffix affixed to the comitative marker, or by a clause-initial adverbial. On the other hand, the question of asymmetry contracts to the background when the accompanee is expressed by a non-clause-initial adverbial and when the accompanee is implicit, without any overt marking. The research is based on a corpus data comprising 19th-century written Finnish, dialect interviews, and modern written Finnish. The data shows that accompaniment relations expressed by mukana and mukaan have changed: in the 19th-century and dialect data, the majority of the landmarks are humans, but in the modern data activities dominate as (secondary) landmarks.  

scholarly journals The Relation of Gender and Feminism in Islamic Jurisprudence

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-142
Author(s):  
Fokky Fuad Wasitaatmadja ◽  
Susianto Susianto ◽  
Suartini Supendi
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Women In Islam ◽  
Legal Method ◽  
Islamic Jurisprudence ◽  
Role Of Women

Research on the relation of gender in Islamic Jurisprudence field always sparks the interest to study because of several things: the idea of power relations which has been touted as a thought that subordinates the role of women in their dynamic movements. Second, the role of the text of the Holy Qur'an in seeing and explaining gender relations in Islam, specifically when influencing or influenced by local culture. The main research question to be revealed is: how does the concept developed in Islamic Jurisprudence schools interpret the relations of men and women? The theoretical framework developed in this study is based on the thought which built in the Islamic Jurisprudence Schools. Sachiko Murata sees that there is a relationship between cultural understanding and the understanding of God in the relationship of men and women. The research method applied in this research is prescriptive normative legal method with conceptual approach. The conclusion in this study states that in the narrative approach to the Holy Qur'an, there is no significant power relation that degrades, dominates, or subordinates the role of women in Islam. Spatial structure of culture becomes a matter of concern when there is submission in the role of women in their socio-cultural environment. The narrative text of the Holy Qur’an explains the high appreciation of domestic and public roles for women. Feminism itself can be traced in various narrative texts in the Holy Qur'an that place women in a place of honor.

scholarly journals Wpływ języka polskiego na rozwój świadomości narodowej młodzieży galicyjskiej w dobie autonomicznej

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-192
Author(s):  
Peter Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
School System ◽  
School Council ◽  
National Consciousness ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Language Of Instruction ◽  
Primary And Secondary Education ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Polish Language ◽  
Main Language

After the Austro-Hungarian compromise in 1867 the Galician parliament and provincial administration gained extensive privileges and prerogatives, especially in education. Galicia was the first crownland that had a school council, which was sanctioned already in 1867. After almost a century the ongoing process of Germanization ended as in the following years the majority of German speaking public officials were replaced by Poles and the Polish language became the main administrativ language and the main language of instruction in school. The article describes changes in the school system and shows the role of the Polish language in primary and secondary education during this so-called epoch of Galician autonomy. A comparison of historical documents and memories from schooldays from former Galician school children allows a realistic insight on the role which the Polish language played in the lives of young Galicians. The analysis shows that the Polonisation of the Galician school system effected the development of Polish national consciousness within young Galicians very slowly and not until the beginning of the 20th century.

scholarly journals Pervasive Learning and Technology Usage for Creativity Development in Education

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (01) ◽  
pp. 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivanna Shubina ◽  
Atik Kulakli
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Technology Learning ◽  
Creativity Development ◽  
Educational Processes ◽  
Educational Paradigm ◽  
Pervasive Learning

This paper’s aim is to investigate the role of creativity and pervasive learning in a modern education paradigm. The research was conducted by relevant literature review along with reflective analysis on sub-context such as creativity, educational development, pedagogical methods, important factors behind of creativity development and technology-learning systems affects. Various issues may become a supportive factor or barrier for creativity development in educational processes. Technology in an education field provides many opportunities for creativity enhancement, among which supports to enhance curiosity to develop some skills to improve student's cognitive processes and engagement as well as to increase intrinsic motivation, self-regulation. Authors attempted to consider all the benefits, challenges and risks related to enhancing creativity with the help of technology in modern educational paradigm. Many studies have been analyzed in order to answer main research question: How technology-pervasive learning environment can enhance stimulation and development of creativity among students?

scholarly journals Continuous formation of liturgy through social cognition

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferdi Kruger ◽  
Ben De Klerk
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
South African ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Focal Points ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Continuous Formation ◽  
The People ◽  
African Context

This article researches two focal points, namely liturgical formation and the influence that social cognition has on liturgical formation. Within a South African context it is evident that Western liturgical traditions encounter African traditions and vice versa. This encounter is challenging because it creates new questions. The process of enculturation is prominent in recent research. The article refers to the process of social cognition as the manner in which people observe each other and try to make sense of other cultures and the people of those cultures. People’s cognition can be wrong, leading to distortions. The main research question for this investigation emanates from this possibility, namely: How does social cognition influence the process of liturgical formation? The authors first of all offer a descriptive– empirical vantage point to investigate this matter. Two local congregations were visited. The authors reflect on their own cognition, but also examine the cognition of the leaders through interviews. Based on the findings of this endeavour, normative perspectives are formulated from Acts 17:16–35 to highlight the role of cognition in liturgical formation. Throughout, the article includes consideration of the hermeneutic interaction between the various elements of this research and provides hermeneutic guidelines.

When Science Meets Responsibility: The Major Risks Commission and the L’Aquila Earthquake

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Simoncini
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Risk Communication ◽  
Future Development ◽  
Seismic Activity ◽  
Research Question ◽  
L’Aquila Earthquake ◽  
Civil Protection ◽  
Risk Regulation ◽  
Main Research

This article aims to analyse the role of law in the identification of the responsibility domain of ‘regulatory science’ (Jasanoff, 1990) within the risk regulatory process. The main research question is therefore,what kindof relationshipbetween science andpolicy-making lawshould design in risk regulation.In order to address this issue, this contribution focuses on the recent verdict of the Tribunal of L’Aquila. After the earthquake occurred in L’Aquila on the 6th April 2009, six Italian scientists that had participated in the Major Risks Commission's meeting have been condemned for the multiple manslaughter of 29 people who were among the 309 victims of the earthquake, ‘for having assessed the risks related to seismic activity in the L’Aquila territory in an inaccurate, generic and ineffective way’ and for having provided ‘information which was imprecise, incomplete and contradictory as to the nature, the causes and the hazardousness and on the future development of the seismic activity’.As far as risk assessment and risk communication are concerned, firstly the tasks of the Major Risks Commission under the Italian Civil Protection law will be analysed. Against this backdrop, the issues related to this expert body's responsibility will be addressed and the gaps in the current accountability regime will be pointed out.

scholarly journals Neighbor connections and contemporary groups in a closed society, in the city of Hajdudoroz

2021 ◽  
pp. 134-141
Author(s):  
Tamás Sári
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Detailed Comparison ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Closed Society ◽  
Administrative Units ◽  
Temporal Focus ◽  
The City

Hajdúdorog is a local closed society, so the religious separation, the Hajdú military past and the agricultural nature of the settlement provide a specific approach to ethnographic researches. In my doctoral research, which includes this article, family and neighborhood relations are analyzed in this settlement. The temporal focus of the research is the 1940s which is the earliest decade that can be researched with informants through interviews. This article pays attention to the neighborhood of Hajdúdorog and contemporary groups, so locality is a key concept. The research question concerns the content of the relationships. How did the relationships in the environment of the neighborhood and contemporary groups, manifest themselves in Hajdúdorog in the 1940s? How did the above features affect this? The research was carried out within the framework of the ethnographic discipline. The article first presents the well-known works of the Hungarian ethnographic literature on the topic and then analyzes the empirical data. I applied the ethnographic method used in social disciplines to obtain empirical data. During the field work, I did in-depth interviews in Hajdúdorog with locals, all older than 75 years. I reached the inteview subjects using the snowball method and the interviews took place in the interviewees’ homes. The article examines the neighboring and contemporary groups separately. Based on the results it can be stated, that in Hajdúdorog the neighborly relations were daily. The tenths, the former special administrative units of the city, were still strong influencing factors in the development of relations in both groups, even during the researched period. The content of the neighborly relations was reflected in smaller household transactions, rental of tools, participation in pigslaughters (disznóvágás), assistance in fieldworks, special folk pastimes (tanyázás) which resulted in more intense relationships than with family relatives. The result of a closed society is that there was a closer relationship between those who lived within one part of the settlement than between relatives who lived in different parts of the settlement. In line with the above, the article seeks to contribute to the researches connected to locality. The subject of the article fits into the sociological neighborhood research category, such as Tönnies and Redfield's research and also fits into the neighborhood research of the Hungarian ethnography, which was also a base for this research. This work hopes to ultimately expand the row of Hajdúdorog’s literature. For further view, the article can encourage research that deals with a more detailed comparison of the role of the neighborhood and the role of neighbors and relatives in Hajdúdorog during the period that was examined in this article.

scholarly journals Telework and perceived workload: Learnings prior to the COVID-19 upheaval

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Tuuli Turja ◽  
Oxana Krutova ◽  
Harri Melin
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Well Being ◽  
National Data ◽  
Main Research ◽  
The Status ◽  
Perceived Workload ◽  
Wage Earners ◽  
The Relationship

During COVID-19, telework has become a new form of work for broader groups of workers who were not teleworking prior to the pandemic. In this study, we ask what we will be returning to after COVID-19, if teleworking will become a new norm or if most workplaces will merely return to the old forms of work. The main research question of this study was to estimate the role of telework in perception of workload. More specifically, to gain an understanding of the stakes involved when reorganizing work after the pandemic, we analysed the relationship between perceived workload and opportunities to telework. Multilevel analysis utilized representative national data of wage earners in Finland (N = 4091). The findings showed that the opportunity to telework is associated with lower perceived workload in the capital area but not in the rural areas. More specifically, increasing telework opportunities among different-level workers, particularly in educational and social work in the capital area, would be beneficial in terms of increasing well-being at work. There could be good reasons for organizations to reject returning to the status quo ex ante after COVID-19 and to consider the new norm, where opportunities to telework are offered to wider worker groups.

scholarly journals The Role of Social Engagement in the Development of Significant Architectural Objects

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-14
Author(s):  
Ilze Miķelsone
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Social Concern ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Architectural Practice ◽  
Three Stages

Abstract Social engagement and public participation is perceived as emerging social concern and coincidental annoyance for architects during the design and building processes. In the development of objects of public importance, especially those of ambiguous assessments, the knowledge of participatory methods, institutional support options, and knowledge of public relations and media literacy becomes an important element in contemporary architectural practice. Latvia’s legislation ensures standard public participation procedure in a unified system within the attribute of “significant architectural object”. This study attempts to recognize the origin and structure of multi-layered topic when the involvement of a wider public is applied in the development of architectural objects. It collects generally known major failures and maps component attributes within three stages. The Conclusion presents several observations on main research question, – how the development of notable architectural objects in the local market is de facto affected by engagement of wider public.

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