Polysemy of Words Expressing Human Body Parts of The Four Limb Area in Thai Language in Vietnam

Author(s):  
Thanh Ha Thi Mai ◽  

The nomenclature and polysemiosis of body parts has constituted a central part of linguistics, and of Linguistic Anthropology. The ramifications of such work make inroads into our understandings of many fields, including language contact, semiotics, and so forth, This current paper identifies the structures and emerging denotations of expressions of human body parts (HBPs) in Thai language, and ways in which these dimensions reflect polysemy. The study thus applies the following methods: Field research methods of linguistics, description, comparison, and collation. As sources of data, this study surveys Thai rhymes, fairy tales, riddles and riddle songs, rhyming  stories, children’s songs and linguistic data of daily speeches in the  northwest of Vietnam. The paper uses theories on word meaning and the transformation of word meaning. To aid analysis, this paper applies methods of  analyzing meaning components so to construct significative meaning structures of words expressing HBPs in Thai language, thus identifying the semantemes chosen to be the basis for the transformation. In the polysemy of  words expressing HBPs of the four limbs, the polysemy of words expressing  the following parts were studied: khèn - tay, cánh tay (arm); mễ – tay, bàn  tay (hand); khà - đùi (thigh); tìn - chân, bàn chân (leg, foot). Directions of semantic transformation of words expressing HBPs in Thai language are as  diversified and as multi-leveled as Vietnamese. Furthermore, in Thai language, there occur differences in the four scopes of semantic transformation, as compared with Vietnamese, including “people’s characteristics,” “human activities,” “nomination of things with activities like HBPs’ activities,” and “unit of measurement.” This study contributes to Linguistic Anthropology by suggesting that the polysemy of words expressing HBPs of the four limb area in Thai language will outline a list of linguistic phenomena which serve as the basis to understand cultural and national features, in the light of perception and categorization of the reality of the Thai minority with reference to Vietnamese.

Author(s):  
Rajendra Pai N. ◽  
U. Govindaraju

Ayurveda in its principle has given importance to individualistic approach rather than generalize. Application of this examination can be clearly seem like even though two patients suffering from same disease, the treatment modality may change depending upon the results of Dashvidha Pariksha. Prakruti and Pramana both used in Dashvidha Pariksha. Both determine the health of the individual and Bala (strength) of Rogi (Patient). Ayurveda followed Swa-angula Pramana as the unit of measurement for measuring the different parts of the body which is prime step assessing patient before treatment. Sushruta and Charaka had stated different Angula Pramana of each Pratyanga (body parts). Specificity is the characteristic property of Swa-angula Pramana. This can be applicable in present era for example artificial limbs. A scientific research includes collection, compilation, analysis and lastly scrutiny of entire findings to arrive at a conclusion. Study of Pramana and its relation with Prakruti was conducted in 1000 volunteers using Prakruti Parkishan proforma with an objective of evaluation of Anguli Pramana in various Prakriti. It was observed co-relating Pramana in each Prakruti and Granthokta Pramana that there is no vast difference in measurement of head, upper limb and lower limb. The observational study shows closer relation of features with classical texts.


Author(s):  
Justine Pila

This chapter surveys the current legal position concerning property in bodies and bodily materials. Of especial relevance in the current age of advanced genetic and other bio technologies, it looks beyond property in bodies and their materials ‘as such’ to consider also (a) the availability of rights of personal and intellectual property in objects incorporating or derived from them, and (b) the reliance on quasi-property rights of possession and consent to regulate the storage and use of corpses and detached bodily materials, including so-called ‘bio-specimens’. Reasoning from first principles, it highlights the practical and conceptual, as well as the political and philosophical, difficulties in this area, along with certain differences in the regulatory approach of European and US authorities. By way of conclusion, it proposes the law of authors’ and inventors’ rights as simultaneously offering a cautionary tale to those who would extend the reach of property even further than it extends currently and ideas for exploiting the malleability of the ‘property’ concept to manage the risks of extending it.


2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (10) ◽  
pp. 15-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Kirkpatrick
Keyword(s):  

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwan Tze-wan

AbstractIn the Shuowen, one of the earliest comprehensive character dictionaries of ancient China, when discussing where the Chinese characters derive their structural components, Xu Shen proposed the dual constitutive principle of “adopting proximally from the human body, and distally from things around.” This dual emphasis of “body” and “things around” corresponds largely to the phenomenological issues of body or corporeality on the one hand, and lifeworld on the other. If we borrow Heidegger’s definition of Dasein as Being-in-the world, we can easily arrive at a reformulation of Xu Shen’s constitutive principle of the Chinese script as one that concerns “bodily Dasein.” By looking into various examples of script tokens we can further elaborate on how the Chinese make use not only of the body in general but various body parts, and how they differentiate their life world into material nature, living things, and a multifaceted world of equipment in forming a core basis of Chinese characters/components, upon which further symbolic manipulation such as “indication”, “phonetic borrowing”, semantic combination, and “annotative derivation”, etc. can be based. Finally, examples will be cited to show how in the Chinese scripts the human body (and its parts) might interact with other’s bodies (and their parts) or with “things around” (whether nature, living creatures, or artifacts) in various ways to cover the social, environmental, ritual, technical, economical, and even intellectual aspects of human experience. Bodily Dasein, so to speak, provides us with a new perspective of understanding and appreciating the entire scope of the Chinese script.


Author(s):  
Pankaj SHARMA ◽  
Vinod KUMAR

Passenger comfort, quality of ride, and handling have broughta lot of attention and concern toautomotive design engineers. These 2 parameters must have optimum balance as they have an inverse effect on each other. Researchers have proposed several approaches and techniques like PID control, fuzzy approach, GA, techniques with inspiration from nature and hybrid techniques to attain the same. A new controller based on the learning behavior of the human brain has been used for the control of semi-active suspension in this study. The controller is known as the Brain Emotional Learning-Based Intelligent Controller (BELBIC). A one-fourth model of car along with the driver model having 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) wasmodeled and simulated. The objective of the studywasto analyze the performance of the proposed controller for improving the dynamic response of the vehicle model coupled with complex biodynamic models of the human body as a passenger, making the whole dynamic system very complex to control. The performance wasanalyzed based on percentage reduction in the overshoot of the vehicle’s sprung mass as well as different human body parts when subjected to road disturbances. The proposed controller performance wascompared with the PID controller, widely used in semi-active suspension. The simulation results obtained for BELBIC controlled system for circular road bump showed that the overshoot of passenger head and body wasreduced by 18.84 and 18.82 %, respectively and reduction for buttock and leg displacement was18.87 %. The vehicle’s seat and sprung mass displacement displayedan improvement of 18.90 and 18.51 %. The overshoot of passenger's head and body displacement wasimproved by 19.79and 19.62 %,respectively, whereas improvement for buttock & leg, vehicle’s seat, and sprung mass displacement were19.81, 20.00, and 20.49 % against trapezoidal speed bump. The PID controlled suspension disclosed an improvement of 8.74, 8.53, 8.75, 11.11, 14.75 % against circular bump and 10.72, 10.33, 10.73, 11.11 and 11.75 % against trapezoidal bump for overshoot reduction of passenger head, body, buttock & leg, vehicle’s seat and sprung mass displacement, respectively. The proposed BELBIC controlled semi-active suspension outperformed the widely used PID controlled semi-active suspension and indicated asignificant improvement in the ride quality of the vehicle.


2011 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 28-54
Author(s):  
Madis Arukask

Different types of folklore texts differ from each other by their function. We can distinguish between genres meant to be believed (like legend) and genres recognized in advance as fiction (fairy-tale). At the same time, textual fiction may also have served practical purposes—such as the telling of fairy-tales during the late autumn and early winter for purposes of fertility magic—as used to be the case in the Estonian folk tradition. There are folklore genres that have functioned, among other things, as an accompaniment, comment on, or support to rituals or practices being carried out—for instance, an incantation during a cure, or a lament in death-related procedures, when a person must be separated from his familiar environment. The same textual formulae fulfil different tasks in different genres, which means that they also carry a different meaning. The present paper considers some themes related to the bodily aspect of humanity in various genres of folklore, particularly in songs and laments, as well as in practices related to death and commemoration. As expected, the problems connected with the human body have in these genres undergone transformations of meaning, the understanding and interpretation of which may vary considerably. The mater­ial discussed in the article derives mainly from the Balto-Finnic and north Russian cultural area, partly from the author's own experience during his field trips.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Rusudan Asatiani ◽  
Natia Dundua ◽  
Marine Ivanishvili

Comparative-historical study of languages makes it possible to represent the diachronic process of structuring the world and forming the corresponding concepts. The abovementioned process is inherently integral and reflected in such socio-cultural areas of human life as language, art, religion, farming, ethno-traditional customs, culture (in its broadest sense), etc. The proto-language reconstructed as a result of the comparative-historical study and the picture of its diachronic development provide some information about the genetic relations between the people speaking the corresponding related languages, about their original homeland and the directions of their historical migrations, about their knowledge, ideas and representations. This time we have analyzed the semantic field of the lexemes denoting the human body parts, which are reconstructed at the Proto-Kartvelian language and exist in the contemporary Kartvelian languages (Georgian, Megrelian, Laz, and Svan) and some dialects (notably, Gurian, Rachian, Xevsurian, and Kiziqian). Our goal is to reveal the semantic structure of the mentioned field, to analyze the respective concepts as well as to outline processes of the development and the establishment of corresponding tokens (resp. lexemes). Vocabulary denoting a human body (resp. Somatic lexemes), its parts and inner organs is a constituent part of the basic core vocabulary of a language and presumably ought to be fixed in the ancient times’ reflecting data. Analysis of the lexical units, which have been reconstructed either at the Common-Kartvelian or Georgian-Zan level on the basis of regular sound correspondences between the Kartvelian languages, allows us to highlight the main course of forming and developing the linguistic units we are concerned with; namely, the accumulation of “knowledge” had been carried out due to the process of differentiation and detailed elaboration of the human body anatomy and respectively, the corresponding semantic field, somatic vocabulary, had been underway to be enriched based on the relation of cognitively interpreted markedness. Language changes and development, formation of new categories and concepts, and consequently, creation of new linguistic units is mainly carried out as the result of detailed elaboration, further specification and partition of unmarked categories: an unmarked category undergoes the division-differentiation on the basis of formally marked oppositions that leads to the formation of new linguistic units and structures and reflects the dynamic picture of enhancement of linguistic cognition of the universe. Dialectic material enriches the semantic space even more and specifies and fills the meanings of lexemes to be studied.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rong Yang ◽  
Yu Zhang ◽  
Sailesh Ranjitkar ◽  
Mingxiang Li ◽  
Yongjie Guo ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundNatural dyes used since historic times for coloring food, leather, textile fibers, and paint body parts. The use of natural dyes has suffered drastically under the influence of modern technologies in the textile industry and socio-economic changes. Hence, ethnobotanical studies of indigenous dye plants and dyeing craft in local communities are urged to protect their potential ecological and economic value. MethodsWe conducted semi-structured surveys on dye plants and traditional craft in 11 Monpa villages of Mêdog County, South-east Tibet, China. The cultural significance of local dye plants was evaluated by an index of cultural importance (CI). Field research was conducted to record the indigenous madder (the root of Rubia wallichiana Decne.) dyeing craft. An experiment was performed with aqueous extract and ethyl alcohol extract of residue remained after water extraction. These two dye solutions were respectively used to dye two fabrics with two biomordants and two metallic mordants by three mordanting methods. We evaluated color properties that were characterized by physicochemical evaluations using UV-visible spectroscopy and FTIR analysis. The dyed fabrics were evaluated by indicators of color strength and fastness including washing, rubbing, and perspiration. ResultsAltogether 15 species belong to 12 families were listed as dye plants, which were used in cloth and food dyeing. The CI of R. wallichiana was highest. Monpa ethnic group used madder directly or with metallic mordants. It was found experimentally that biomordants and metallic mordants were comparable in improving the dyeing properties of indigenous madder. The dyeing properties of both extracts of madder were equal or ethyl alcohol extraction was marginally better.ConclusionsUse of dye plants and indigenous knowledge of dyeing still present in the Monpa ethnic group. Our experiment revealed the feasibility of enhancing the dyeing property and reuse of the residue from madder dyeing. The improved dyeing and reuse of residue can improve the ecological and economic benefits of local meanwhile provide basic application research for the subsequent commercialization of plant dyes.


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