scholarly journals Preconceptual Spectral and Temporal Cues as a Source of Meaning in Speech and Music

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Reybrouck ◽  
Piotr Podlipniak
Keyword(s):  
Multisensory Processing ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Parts Of Speech ◽  
Speech Prosody ◽  
Temporal Cues ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Voice

This paper explores the importance of preconceptual meaning in speech and music, stressing the role of affective vocalizations as a common ancestral instrument in communicative interactions. Speech and music are sensory rich stimuli, both at the level of production and perception, which involve different body channels, mainly the face and the voice. However, this bimodal approach has been challenged as being too restrictive. A broader conception argues for an action-oriented embodied approach that stresses the reciprocity between multisensory processing and articulatory-motor routines. There is, however, a distinction between language and music, with the latter being largely unable to function referentially. Contrary to the centrifugal tendency of language to direct the attention of the receiver away from the text or speech proper, music is centripetal in directing the listener’s attention to the auditory material itself. Sound, therefore, can be considered as the meeting point between speech and music and the question can be raised as to the shared components between the interpretation of sound in the domain of speech and music. In order to answer these questions, this paper elaborates on the following topics: (i) The relationship between speech and music with a special focus on early vocalizations in humans and non-human primates; (ii) the transition from sound to meaning in speech and music; (iii) the role of emotion and affect in early sound processing; (iv) vocalizations and nonverbal affect burst in communicative sound comprehension; and (v) the acoustic features of affective sound with a special emphasis on temporal and spectrographic cues as parts of speech prosody and musical expressiveness.

FAITH–BASED COMMUNITIES AND POLITICS IN DULLSTROOM-EMNOTWENI: LOCAL STORIES OF IDENTITY

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Landman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Traditional Role ◽  
Cultural Conflicts ◽  
Local Identities ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
Local Municipality ◽  
The Face

A majority of the black community of Dullstroom-Emnotweni in the Mpumalanga highveld in the east of South Africa trace their descent back to the southern Ndebele of the so-called ‘Mapoch Gronden’, who lost their land in the 1880s to become farm workers on their own land. A hundred years later, in 1980, descendants of the ‘Mapoggers’ settled in the newly built ‘township’ of Dullstroom, called Sakhelwe, finding jobs on the railways or as domestic workers. Oral interviews with the inhabitants of Sakhelwe – a name eventually abandoned in favour of Dullstroom- Emnotweni – testify to histories of transition from landowner to farmworker to unskilled labourer. The stories also highlight cultural conflicts between people of Ndebele, Pedi and Swazi descent and the influence of decades of subordination on local identities. Research projects conducted in this and the wider area of the eMakhazeni Local Municipality reveal the struggle to maintain religious, gender and youth identities in the face of competing political interests. Service delivery, higher education, space for women and the role of faith-based organisations in particular seem to be sites of contestation. Churches and their role in development and transformation, where they compete with political parties and state institutions, are the special focus of this study. They attempt to remain free from party politics, but are nevertheless co-opted into contra-culturing the lack of service delivery, poor standards of higher education and inadequate space for women, which are outside their traditional role of sustaining an oppressed community.

scholarly journals The voice, text, and the visual as semiotic companions: an analysis of the materiality and meaning potential of multimodal screen feedback

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Tyrer
Keyword(s):  
Student Teachers ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Written Feedback ◽  
Feedback Process ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Initial Teacher Training ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Structured Video

AbstractThe gap between how learners interpret and act upon feedback has been widely documented in the research literature. What is less certain is the extent to which the modality and materiality of the feedback influence students’ and teachers’ perceptions. This article explores the semiotic potential of multimodal screen feedback to enhance written feedback. Guided by an “Inquiry Graphics” approach, situated within a semiotic theory of learning edusemiotic conceptual framework, constructions of meaning in relation to screencasting feedback were analysed to determine how and whether it could be incorporated into existing feedback practices. Semi-structured video elicitation interviews with student teachers were used to incorporate both micro and macro levels of analysis. The findings suggested that the relationship between the auditory, visual and textual elements in multimodal screen feedback enriched the feedback process, highlighting the importance of form in addition to content to aid understanding of written feedback. The constitutive role of design and material artefacts in feedback practices in initial teacher training pertinent to these findings is also discussed.

New Agendas for Special Education Policy: What the National Reports Haven't Said

1987 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marleen Pugach ◽  
Mara Sapon-Shevin
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Education Policy ◽  
Educational Reform ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Special Education Policy ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The calls for educational reform that have dominated the professional and lay literature for the past few years have been decidedly silent in discussing the role of special education either as a contributor or a solution to the problems being raised. As an introduction to this “Special Focus” on the relationship between general educational reform and special education, this article summarizes some of the more prominent reports with regard to their treatment (and nontreatment) of special education. The impact of proposed reforms for the conceptualization and operation of special education is the subject of the five articles that follow.

scholarly journals The Logic and Normative Force of Dual-Character Generics: Towards a Theoretical Model for the Study of Normatively Shifted Predications

2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-126
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Kowalewska-Buraczewska
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Social Constructs ◽  
Normative Force ◽  
Social Kinds ◽  
Dual Character ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis paper investigates the relationship between generic statements and the expression, transmission and persistence of social norms. The author presents the concept of normativity and its importance in the decision-making process in the context of social reality and social norms that comprise it (Bicchieri, 2006, 2016; Bicchieri et al., 2018). The paper analyses the idea of “what is normal” (Haslanger, 2014) to show how social norms are triggered by particular generic constructions relating to “social kinds”, represented by noun phrases denoting “dual character concepts” (Knobe et al., 2013; Prasada et al., 2013; Leslie, 2015). DCCs are shown as effectively serving their persuasive and explanatory function due to their polysemous nature (Leslie, 2015) rather than to different pragmatics (Leslie, forthcoming). Special focus is placed on gender terms as particularly salient social kinds; this salience can be explained by a culturally pivotal role of social constructs of manhood and womanhood and by linguistic potential of generics in the development of social beliefs and legitimizing norm-driven behaviours.

Part III Conceptual Pillars, Ch.16 Harm Prevention

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brunnée Jutta
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Law ◽  
Environmental Harm ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Significant Harm ◽  
Actual Harm ◽  
The Face ◽  
Harm Prevention ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter addresses how international environmental law originates from and revolves around the harm prevention rule. It focuses on three points of contention, each related to the role of due diligence in harm prevention, and each highlighted by recent judicial engagements with the harm prevention rule. First, it is generally accepted that a state's obligation to prevent environmental harm is not absolute, but requires due diligence in the face of risk of significant harm. However, it is unclear whether a failure to act diligently to avert harm on its own—absent actual harm—can amount to a breach of the harm prevention rule. Second, the relationship between the procedural and substantive dimensions of the harm prevention rule remains ambiguous. Third, there is some uncertainty as to where the line runs between the harm prevention obligation and the precautionary principle, given the focus of both notions on risk. These inter-related conceptual questions affect the harm prevention rule's function as a reference point for international environmental law.

scholarly journals Climate as an Evolutionary Driver of Nest Morphology in Birds: A Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela M. Perez ◽  
Janet L. Gardner ◽  
Iliana Medina
Keyword(s):  
Local Environment ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Extended Phenotype ◽  
The Face ◽  
Building Behavior ◽  
Fledgling Success ◽  
Nest Microclimate ◽  
The Relationship

Avian nests are critical for successful reproduction in birds. Nest microclimate can affect egg development, chick growth and fledgling success, suggesting that nest building behavior should be under strong selective pressure to nesting conditions. Given that the internal microclimate of the nest is critical for avian fitness, it is expected that nest morphology is shaped by the local environment. Here we review the relationship between nest morphology and climate across species’ distributions. We collate growing evidence that supports a link between environmental conditions and particular nest traits, within species and across species. We discuss the degree to which phenotypic plasticity in nesting behavior can contribute to observed variation in nest traits, the role of phylogenetic history in determining nest morphology, and which nest traits are likely to be influenced by climatic conditions. Finally, we identify gaps in our understanding of the evolution of nest morphology and suggest topics for future research. Overall, we argue that nests are part of the extended phenotype of a bird, they play a crucial role in their reproductive success, and may be an important factor in determining which species will be able to persist in the face of ongoing climate change.

scholarly journals Reviving Traditional Food Knowledge Through Food Festivals. The Case of the Pink Asparagus Festival in Mezzago, Italy

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele F. Fontefrancesco ◽  
Dauro M. Zocchi
Keyword(s):  
Local Knowledge ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Traditional Food ◽  
The Past ◽  
Food Knowledge ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Village ◽  
The Relationship

The article investigates the link between food festivals and traditional food knowledge and explores the role played by tourist events in disseminating local agricultural and gastronomic knowledge. This article presents the ethnographic case of the Pink Asparagus Festival in Mezzago in Italy, analyzing how the festival supported the continuation of crop production and its associated traditional knowledge in the village. In the face of a decline of asparagus production, the article highlights the role of the festival in fostering a revival of local food knowledge, which is also able to embrace modernization, at the same time maintaining a strong sense of the past and Mezzago's legacy. Thus, the article suggests that festivals are not just events aimed at commodifying local knowledge, but can be important tools to refresh and maintain local expertise, which is vital and pressing in the context of modern society, and strengthen and expand the relationship between members of the community, thus converting the festival into an endeavor to foster sociocultural sustainability.

scholarly journals Good vibrations: A review of vocal expressions of positive emotions

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roza G. Kamiloğlu ◽  
Agneta H. Fischer ◽  
Disa A. Sauter
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotion ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Speech Prosody ◽  
Nonverbal Vocalizations ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Vocal Expressions

AbstractResearchers examining nonverbal communication of emotions are becoming increasingly interested in differentiations between different positive emotional states like interest, relief, and pride. But despite the importance of the voice in communicating emotion in general and positive emotion in particular, there is to date no systematic review of what characterizes vocal expressions of different positive emotions. Furthermore, integration and synthesis of current findings are lacking. In this review, we comprehensively review studies (N = 108) investigating acoustic features relating to specific positive emotions in speech prosody and nonverbal vocalizations. We find that happy voices are generally loud with considerable variability in loudness, have high and variable pitch, and are high in the first two formant frequencies. When specific positive emotions are directly compared with each other, pitch mean, loudness mean, and speech rate differ across positive emotions, with patterns mapping onto clusters of emotions, so-called emotion families. For instance, pitch is higher for epistemological emotions (amusement, interest, relief), moderate for savouring emotions (contentment and pleasure), and lower for a prosocial emotion (admiration). Some, but not all, of the differences in acoustic patterns also map on to differences in arousal levels. We end by pointing to limitations in extant work and making concrete proposals for future research on positive emotions in the voice.

DO EXPORT MARKETS SELECT THE MOST INNOVATIVE PRODUCERS? THE MODERATING ROLE OF PRODUCTIVITY

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (02) ◽  
pp. 1550030 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOAQUÍN MONREAL-PÉREZ ◽  
ANTONIO ARAGÓN-SÁNCHEZ ◽  
GREGORIO SÁNCHEZ-MARÍN
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Foreign Markets ◽  
Export Markets ◽  
Industrial Firms ◽  
Process Innovations ◽  
Export Activity ◽  
The Face ◽  
Product And Process ◽  
The Relationship

In this paper, we examine a sample of 2000 Spanish industrial firms over the period 2001–2010 to analyse whether the self-selection hypothesis explains the relationship between innovation and the export activity of the company. In addition, we analyse how productivity moderates that relationship. The results indicate that the hypothesis does explain the effect of product and process innovations: Overseas foreign markets select those companies that have previously secured product or process innovations, while investment in research and development (R&D) does not increase the propensity for companies to export. On the other hand, the productivity of the company intensifies this effect. These results are robust in the face of fixed effects, different specifications of export activity and endogeneity, the last of which suggests possible effects of learning by exporting.

scholarly journals COVID-19 and the importance of space in entrepreneurship research and policy

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (8) ◽  
pp. 697-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steffen Korsgaard ◽  
Richard A Hunt ◽  
David M Townsend ◽  
Mads Bruun Ingstrup
Keyword(s):  
Economic System ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Local Economies ◽  
Spatial Perspective ◽  
Entrepreneurship Research ◽  
Digital Platform ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Research And Policy

Given the COVID-19 crisis, the importance of space in the global economic system has emerged as critical in a hitherto unprecedented way. Even as large-scale, globally operating digital platform enterprises find new ways to thrive in the midst of a crisis, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) nestled in local economies have proven to be fragile to shocks, causing countless local economies to unravel in the face of severe challenges to survival. Here, we discuss the role of entrepreneurship in re-building local economies that are more resilient. Specifically, we take a spatial perspective and highlight how the COVID-19 crisis has uncovered problems in the current tendency for thin contextualisation and promotion of globalisation. Based on this critique, we outline new perspectives for thinking about the relationship between entrepreneurship, resilience and local economies. Here, a particular emphasis is given to resilience building through deeply contextualised policies and research, localised flows of products and labour, and the diversification of local economies.

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