scholarly journals Systems of Communication: Aspects of Culture and Structure in Speech Surrogates

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas James
Keyword(s):  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Mediated Discourse ◽  
Formal Relationship ◽  
Cultural Constraints ◽  
Linguistic Structures ◽  
Surrogate System ◽  
Common Function ◽  
Discursive Context

The practice of speech surrogacy is used for communication across many cultures. Previous work has historically engaged with the study of speech surrogates as part of anthropological or ethnomusicological inquiry; more recently, scholars have explored aspects of the formal relationship between spoken and surrogate linguistic structures. How speech surrogates function as systems of communication is not yet well understood. Based on evidence from an interdisciplinary corpus of documentation, characteristics of culture and discourse, as well as features of linguistic structure, are shown to play a role in fostering communicability in speech surrogates. Cultural constraints are linked to the development of a speech surrogate-mediated discourse within a community of practice, facilitating comprehension of the surrogate system. Moreover, specific structures including formulas, enphrasing, and framing devices are identified as common to various speech surrogate traditions, suggesting a common function as aids to communication. This analysis points to the need to investigate speech surrogates as linguistic systems within a discursive context.

scholarly journals Phase synchronization varies systematically with linguistic structure composition

2019 ◽  
Vol 375 (1791) ◽  
pp. 20190305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Brennan ◽  
Andrea E. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Phase Synchronization ◽  
Natural Extension ◽  
Function Words ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Phase Alignment ◽  
The Time Domain ◽  
Linguistic Structures ◽  
The Brain

Computation in neuronal assemblies is putatively reflected in the excitatory and inhibitory cycles of activation distributed throughout the brain. In speech and language processing, coordination of these cycles resulting in phase synchronization has been argued to reflect the integration of information on different timescales (e.g. segmenting acoustics signals to phonemic and syllabic representations; (Giraud and Poeppel 2012 Nat. Neurosci. 15 , 511 ( doi:10.1038/nn.3063 )). A natural extension of this claim is that phase synchronization functions similarly to support the inference of more abstract higher-level linguistic structures (Martin 2016 Front. Psychol. 7 , 120; Martin and Doumas 2017 PLoS Biol . 15 , e2000663 ( doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2000663 ); Martin and Doumas. 2019 Curr. Opin. Behav. Sci. 29 , 77–83 ( doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.04.008 )). Hale et al . (Hale et al . 2018 Finding syntax in human encephalography with beam search. arXiv 1806.04127 ( http://arxiv.org/abs/1806.04127 )) showed that syntactically driven parsing decisions predict electroencephalography (EEG) responses in the time domain; here we ask whether phase synchronization in the form of either inter-trial phrase coherence or cross-frequency coupling (CFC) between high-frequency (i.e. gamma) bursts and lower-frequency carrier signals (i.e. delta, theta), changes as the linguistic structures of compositional meaning ( viz ., bracket completions, as denoted by the onset of words that complete phrases) accrue. We use a naturalistic story-listening EEG dataset from Hale et al . to assess the relationship between linguistic structure and phase alignment. We observe increased phase synchronization as a function of phrase counts in the delta, theta, and gamma bands, especially for function words. A more complex pattern emerged for CFC as phrase count changed, possibly related to the lack of a one-to-one mapping between ‘size’ of linguistic structure and frequency band—an assumption that is tacit in recent frameworks. These results emphasize the important role that phase synchronization, desynchronization, and thus, inhibition, play in the construction of compositional meaning by distributed neural networks in the brain. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Towards mechanistic models of meaning composition’.

scholarly journals Women and Language under Critical Discourse Analysis: A Study of the Linguistic Traits of Lady Zainab's (A.S.) Speech

لارك ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (41) ◽  
pp. 1240-1223
Author(s):  
م.مHajir Mahmood Ibrahim Assist. Lect.
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Women's Identity ◽  
Linguistic Structures

Language is a mirror to self-identity and social power. Humans sculpt their identities in society through their own words and linguistic structures and if they are marginalized or demeaned, they count on language to show power and individuality. The importance of language as identity mirroring, sets the present study to investigate feminism on a linguistic ground. It examines women speech under a critical discourse analysis which makes the perfect lead to the swelling social problem of women's identity and power. The study aims at investigating how women utilizes their true power through language. To achieve this aim, the study investigates the linguistic structure of Lady Zainab's (A.S.) sermon. The study adopts Fairclough's Model (1995) in order to reach the intended conclusion.

scholarly journals Analysing ESL Persuasive Essay Writing Using Toulmin’s Model of Argument

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 1810-1821
Author(s):  
Wan Hurani Osman, Junaidah Januin
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Persuasive Writing ◽  
Writing Teachers ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Persuasive Essays ◽  
Writing Genres ◽  
The Common ◽  
Linguistic Structures ◽  
Toulmin’S Model

In Malaysian universities, writing in English is taught in several settings: writing for general purposes, writing for academic purposes and writing for specific purposes. Writing in these settings allows learners to learn to write in different genres, such as research, reports, and persuasive writing genres. One of the standard genres is persuasive because it is used to convince readers of what is researched or reported. To be competent in persuading or arguing, using the appropriate rhetorical and linguistic structure is crucial. The appropriate rhetorical and linguistic elements will help to achieve the writers' objective and intention. This paper will examine rhetorical and linguistic structures used by the ESL writers in producing a persuasive essay. Fifteen persuasive essays written by tertiary learners were analysed in this study. The researchers employed Stephen Toulmin's Model of argument (1969) as the tool of analysis in identifying the rhetorical and linguistic structures realised in the students' essays. The analysis outcome indicates that the 15 ESL writers under investigation comply with Toulmin's model except for the rebuttal stage, which was not visible in the essays. The findings will explain the common and uncommon rhetorical and linguistic elements used based on the model that Toulmin has developed. The implications from the findings are twofold; first, academic writing teachers can focus on the necessary elements to produce competent persuasive ESL writers, and secondly, textbook developers may produce their books based on the findings drawn from this study.

Possible Similarities in the Linguistic Structure of John 8.25b and John 8.45a

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-178
Author(s):  
Hans Förster
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
John's Gospel ◽  
Linguistic Structures

It appears possible to point to linguistic structures in John 8.25b and 45a which exhibit similarities. While John 8.25b has seen discussion, the problems of John 8.45a have not been given much attention. This article argues that both passages contain structures which derive from Semitic influence on the Greek. This is important both for translating the sentences and for the question of the author of John’s Gospel and his background.

scholarly journals Linguistics constructions of the poetry of 1919 revolution: التركيب اللغوي لشعر ثورة 1919

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emad Abdul Baqi Ali
Keyword(s):  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Structural Description ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Linguistic Structures ◽  
The Revolution

The purpose of the study is to know the lexicon of the poetry of the 1919 revolution and the relationship between these structures and the culture of the author himself; to find out the contribution of linguistic construction to poetry in the emergence of a new set of conventional structures. The methodology of research requires the adoption of descriptive analysis method of linguistic structures in the poetic sentence through the structural description of each structure to know its linguistic significance. The research consists of an introduction and two axes; it revolves around the linguistic structure of poetry, its relation to the linguistic vocabulary of the revolution, and the influence and being influenced existing between the linguistic significance of poetry and the emerging structures that emerged in society. The conclusion is that it draws a link between the linguistic structure of the language of poetry and the new structures that appeared in the lexicon of the 1919 revolution; to consider the poetic syntax and to identify the linguistic features and new features that emerged in the poetry of the revolution.

scholarly journals Tähelepanu akendamine

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-109
Author(s):  
Maarja-Liisa Pilvik
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Conceptual Systems ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Human Thinking ◽  
Linguistic Structures

Artiklis antakse ülevaade Leonard Talmy esitatud mõistest tähelepanu akendamine (windowing of attention) ja selle üldistest toimimisprintsiipidest. Ühtlasi püütakse tuua mõni näide akendamise avaldumisest eesti keele põhjal, pakkudes seeläbi võimalusi mõiste rakendamiseks ka siinses keeleuurimises. Akendamine on keeles laialt levinud nähtus, mis avaldub nii keelelises struktuuris kui ka selle aluseks olevates kontseptuaalsetes süsteemides, võimaldades kõnelejal asetada põhitähelepanu mingitele kindlatele situatsiooni osadele ning suunata seeläbi vastuvõtja tõlgendusprotsessi. Siinjuures on olulisel kohal ka tähelepanuta jäävad situatsiooni osad. Tähelepanu akendamine pakub niisiis ühe võimaliku raamistiku inimmõtlemise seletamiseks ning selle põhiprintsiipidel on märgatav ühisosa ka muude kognitiivses keeleteaduses käibivate käsitlustega. Arvestades akendamise avaldumise ulatuslikkust keeles, on see senini saanud eesti keeleteaduses ehk teenimatult vähe tähelepanu.Windowing of attention. The article gives an overview of the concept windowing of attention introduced by Leonard Talmy, and its general principles. It also provides a few examples of how windowing occurs in the linguistic structure of Estonian and how the concept may therefore be applied in research on Estonian. The windowing of attention is an extensive phenomenon in language that is evident both in linguistic structures and the underlying conceptual systems. It provides the speaker with a means to place focus on certain portions of a situation and thereby to affect the hearer’s construal of the event, whereas the remainder of the situation that is attentionally backgrounded plays an important role in the process as well. The windowing of attention, thus, serves as one possible form to explain human thinking. In addition, its basic mechanisms share common characteristics with many approaches in cognitive linguistics. Despite this, windowing has received little attention in Estonian linguistics, and could be put into use more extensively.

Recontextualization and language change

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (s41) ◽  
pp. 253-281
Author(s):  
Ferdinand von Mengden ◽  
Anneliese Kuhle
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
The Body ◽  
Linguistic Expression ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Independent Form ◽  
Form Part ◽  
Familiar Material ◽  
Linguistic Structures ◽  
Linguistic Usage

Abstract This paper introduces the concept of ‘recontextualization’ and its benefit for the study of language change. ‘Recontextualization’ refers to the use of familiar material, such as tools or gestures, which extend the body in variable contexts of behaviour. The concept is related to notions already established in other fields, such as primatology and anthropology. We claim that these parallels are meaningful as they represent an overarching principle which underlies the emergence of linguistic structures but which also connects linguistic usage with other types of behaviour and interaction. We thereby argue against notions of context-independent form-meaning pairings in language, which require assumptions like innovation or reanalysis as mechanisms of usage and, ultimately, change. In this sense, we concur with usage-based approaches that define the linguistic expression as inherently vague, underspecified and variable. But we further argue that the emergence and, as a consequence, the empirically observable properties of any linguistic structure are to be accounted for by speakers using the same material in novel contexts or situations. Any such ‘recontextualization’ then creates, in turn, new options for the re-use of a linguistic construction. The underlying categorizations, which typically form part of the linguistic descriptions, pertain to the reality of the observer (the linguist) and not primarily to that of the speaker.

scholarly journals The Effect of Using Differentiated Instruction Approach in Acquiring some Grammatical Structures and Developing Language Performance of Primary Grade Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 337
Author(s):  
Mahmoud H. Abdel Qader
Keyword(s):  
Differentiated Instruction ◽  
Performance Test ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Linguistic Performance ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Linguistic Structures ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Instruction Approach

This study aimed to investigate the effect of using the differentiated instruction approach while teaching the Arabic Language for acquiring some linguistic structures and developing the linguistic performance of the primary-stage students. The materials and instruments of study consisted of student worksheets, teacher's guide, linguistic structure test, and the linguistic performance test. The participants in the research groups were selected, then, the experiment of study and the pre-post testing of study instruments were implemented. Data was statistically treated using SPSS.18 program. The findings of study revealed that there were statistically differences between the mean scores of the experimental and the control groups at level 0.5 in the linguistic structures test favoring the experimental group. Moreover, there were significat differences between the mean scores of the experimental and the control groups at level 0.5 in the linguistic performance test favoring the experimental group. A correlated relation has been proved between linguistic structure acquisition and the development of linguistic performance the by post-testing of the participants of experimental group.

Describing syntactic structures

2019 ◽  
pp. 139-198
Author(s):  
Mary Dalrymple ◽  
John J. Lowe ◽  
Louise Mycock
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Functional Constraints ◽  
Constituent Structure ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Linguistic Structures

This chapter focuses on how to formulate descriptions of and constraints on c-structure, f-structure, and the relation between them. We show how these constraints, which are a part of the formal architecture of LFG theory, are important in the statement of universal typological generalizations about linguistic structure. A formal linguistic theory such as LFG must provide efficient and transparent ways of stating linguistic facts and generalizations clearly and precisely, in a way that is conducive to a solid understanding of the linguistic structures that are described and how they are related. Section 5.1 focuses on constituent structure rules, Section 5.2 on functional constraints, and Section 5.3 on the correspondence between c-structure and f-structure. The kind of variability that LFG predicts is illustrated in Section 5.4 by examining simple structures in four typologically different languages.

Factors in the perception of speaker politeness: the effect of linguistic structure, imposition and prosody

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikos Vergis ◽  
Marc D. Pell
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Methods ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Linguistic Form ◽  
Conversational Implicatures ◽  
Linguistic Politeness ◽  
Auditory Tasks ◽  
Linguistic Structures

AbstractAlthough linguistic politeness has been studied and theorized about extensively, the role of prosody in the perception of (im)polite attitudes has been somewhat neglected. In the present study, we used experimental methods to investigate the interaction of linguistic form, imposition, and prosody in the perception of (im)polite requests. A written task established a baseline for the level of politeness associated with certain linguistic structures. Then stimuli were recorded in polite and rude prosodic conditions and in a perceptual experiment they were judged for politeness. Results revealed that, although both linguistic structure and prosody had a significant effect on politeness ratings, the effect of prosody was much more robust. In fact, rude prosody led in some cases to the neutralization of (extra)linguistic distinctions. The important contribution of prosody to (im)politeness inferences was also revealed by a comparison of the written and auditory tasks. These findings have important implications for models of (im)politeness and more generally for theories of affective speech. Implications for the generation of Particularized Conversational Implicatures (PCIs) of (im)politeness are also discussed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document