Structural Markup of Official Documents in Diachronic Linguistic Corpus: Problems and Solutions

The research relevance is determined by the need to annotate official documents of Don Cossack Host written in the middle of the 18 th century and kept in "Mikhailovsky Stanitsa Ataman" archive fund of the State Archive of the Volgograd Region (SAVR, fund 332, inventory 1), so as to compile a linguistic corpus. The authors characterize the problems of the deposited documentary text structural division. These difficulties occur due to the specifics of the form, the dynamics of genres and the syntactical peculiarities of business communication in the middle of the 18 th century. It is revealed that the complexity of documentary text division depends on the degree of its narrativity. The choice of a structural-semantic segment that coincides with a sentence or several closely connected sentences as a layout unit is motivated. A complex method of document segmentation for the structural markup is justified. The approach is based on genre parameterization of documents and their syntactic segmentation. It has been established that the segment boundaries can be indicated by the complex of graphic symbols, speech formulas that perform the function of details of payments, lexical and grammatical means. As a result of the study, it has been shown that the succession of procedures implemented for text segmentation, and targeted at genre and speech organization of the document identification, makes it possible to present in the diachronic corpus the information, which is necessary and sufficient for the user to conclude about the properties of the document text and its units.

Comparison of Preschooler Verbal and Graphic Symbol Production Across Different Syntactic Structures

The present study focuses on the impact of graphic symbols used in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) on clause construction. It is not yet well-understood to what extent communication produced via graphic symbols differs from verbal production. This study attempts shed light on the impact of the graphic symbol modality on message construction beyond individual differences, language knowledge, and language-specific patterns by providing a direct comparison between children’s verbal and graphic symbol production. Nineteen typically developing Hebrew-speaking children aged 4–5 years were presented with 16 short videos of actions and were asked to express what they saw verbally and by choosing among graphic symbols displayed on an iPad communication board. The 570 clauses produced by the children were coded and analyzed. A significant difference was found in favor of verbal speech across different syntactic structures in terms of utilization of the target lexicon, syntactic complexity, and expected target word order. These results are consistent with the existing literature for English. Implications for AAC practices are discussed, highlighting the notion that using graphic symbols to represent spoken language may not reflect actual linguistic knowledge and that adequate, explicit instruction is necessary for graphic representation of more complex linguistic structures.

Effects of Cognitive Load on the Categorical Perception of Mandarin Tones

Purpose This study investigated the effect of cognitive load (CL) on the categorical perception (CP) of Mandarin lexical tones to discuss the application of the generalized pulse-skipping hypothesis. This hypothesis assumes that listeners might miss/skip temporal pulses and lose essential speech information due to CL, which consequently affects both the temporal and spectral dimensions of speech perception. Should CL decrease listeners' pitch sensitivity and impair the distinction of tone categories, this study would support the generalized pulse-skipping hypothesis. Method Twenty-four native Mandarin-speaking listeners were recruited to complete a dual-task experiment where they were required to identify or discriminate tone stimuli while concurrently memorizing six Chinese characters or graphic symbols. A no-load condition without a memory recall task was also included as a baseline condition. The position of categorical boundary, identification slope, between- and within-category discrimination, and discrimination peakedness were compared across the three conditions to measure the impact of CL on tone perception. The recall accuracy of Chinese characters and graphic symbols was used to assess the difficulty of memory recall. Results Compared with the no-load condition, both load conditions showed a boundary shift to Tone 3, shallower identification slope, poorer between-category discrimination, and lower discrimination peakedness. Within-category discrimination was negatively affected by CL in the graphic symbol condition only, not in the Chinese character condition. Conclusions CL degraded listeners' sensitivity to subtle fundamental frequency changes and impaired CP of Mandarin lexical tones. This provides support for the generalized pulse-skipping hypothesis. Besides, the involvement of lexical information modulated the effect of CL.

Occasional words in the language of advertising

The article attempts to investigate the peculiarities of using of occasionalisms in the language of advertising. A thorough analysis of selected occasionalisms was performed on the level of phonetics, semantics and syntax. It has been proven that alliteration is the most often used means to increase the intonational expressiveness of an advertising slogan, as illustrated by numerous examples from newspaper articles. The analysis of belonging of occasional words to a certain part of the language has shown that they mostly belong to the class of nouns, adjectives and verbs with a positive connotation, thus contributing to the expressiveness of an advertising slogan. It has been confirmed that every occasionalism has been created for a certain advertising slogan by violating the language norms of word formation. Most occasional words have been formed by derivation, mainly affixation, base formation and abbreviation. From a syntactic point of view, the language of advertising is represented by affirmative, interrogative and exclamatory types of sentences. The main function of the selected occasional words is the nomination of certain products and services. Performing the function of an expressive means, occasionalisms are mostly used to provide a vivid description of the advertising product or service in order to attract the attention of consumers. It has been proved the expediency of using intentionally incorrect spelling of words, the so-called sensational or divergent spelling in the texts of the advertising slogan is considered to be one of the effective ways to attract the attention of modern consumers to the advertising product or service. As an example of an innovative tool in the battle for perspective consumers, the use of numerals and other graphic symbols has been singled out for the potential consumers’ attention, which will help to increase the effectiveness of the advertising slogan and remembering of its new expressive shades.

Set of graphic symbols for visual modeling in social-humanitarian knowledge

The paper raises and discusses the research problem of knowledge visualization. It is stated that the scientific knowledge knows a lot of visual languages that allow us to describe and transmit knowledge, stimulate the cognitive process and provide it with a sufficiently high level of formalizing. However, as mentioned in the paper, the availability of visual languages in social and humanitarian knowledge is currently insufficient, which is due to the fact that there are no general and rich in content visual languages describing social and humanitarian processes. The paper considers the theoretical basis of the author’s proposed solution to the previously posed problem of deficit of available visual languages. The author notes that visual epistemology should be one of theoretical statements of research into the uses of visual languages. Another significant theoretical basis suggested for solving the problem are the ideas of functional asymmetry of the human brain, considered in the context of so-called computer metaphor. The third theoretical basis of the solution embraces the concepts of visual language, visual modeling, and visual model. The author proposes the set of graphic symbols, the basic elements of which are two signs – the sign of the object and the sign of the relationship between objects. Furthermore, the author proposes additional signs for indicate various types of links and relations between objects. The paper states that in addition to cognitive functions, visual modeling performs a significant communicative function, as it makes the results of the cognitive process more visible and more convenient for perception. The author emphasizes the variability of visual modeling processes and stresses that these processes largely depend on the aesthetic consciousness of the cognizing subject. Such dependence indicates that epistemology and aesthetics are somehow intertwined in visual modeling. The final part of the paper summarizes the results of the research. The author notes that the set of visual signs as components of the visual language proposed by the author can be successfully used in solving such problems as: systematic description and visual modelling of complex processes and systems, both in social and humanitarian fields and beyond them; modelling, description and analysis of text, discourse, reasoning.

Exploring AAC graphic symbol choices: a preliminary study

Purpose Graphic symbols have been used widely in the field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The advancement of technology in recent years has stimulated their development even further, thereby providing speech-language pathologists (SLPs) a wide range of options to choose for the individuals they support. However, existing literature on graphic symbols is scant and clinicians must base their decisions almost solely on clinical judgment. This paper aims to investigate the factors SLPs consider when choosing corpuses of graphic symbols for their clients. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was used that allowed multiple-choice responses. Data were analyzed and presented primarily as percentages. Findings Most respondents used graphic symbols with people having developmental disorders, and the corpuses of symbols they drew upon were based predominantly on availability, characteristics of the individual’s impairment or disability and intelligibility to the user and his or her communication partners. Existing policies related to graphic symbols also influence clinicians’ choices. SLPs search for support mainly from professional associations and training providers. In terms of use with technology, ready-made symbol packages for clinicians to use were found to be attractive. Practical implications Professional associations and institutions that focus on AAC need to provide adequate support to clinicians with a foundation based on evidence-based practice. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research that focuses on current practices concerning the factors SLPs take into consideration when choosing the optimum graphic symbol corpus(es) for their clients.