Narrating Memory: Weighing up the Testimony

Memory is the ability to store, maintain and recall information and experiences. Although predominantly an individual attribute, memory coincides with the life-world, with consciousness and with the ability to define reality – all of which are shared with others. When analysing narratives the sociologist needs to situate individual memory within its broader context. The article follows the argument that individuals acquire their memories within a broader social context. They also recall and localise their memories within a broader social context. This article interprets a remarkable testimony: the story of a former political prisoner who circumcised a large number of young fellow inmates in the notorious prison on Robben Island, South Africa, during the period of Nelson Mandela‟s incarceration. The article relates the narrative in question to the life-world of the narrator and to his experiences whilst serving his 18-year prison sentence. It reflects on the epistemological questions regarding memories. Memory as recollection, as reconstruction of events and information, and as process of re-membering come under the spotlight. Narratives that are often repeated start taking on a life of their own – particularly in the case of trauma memories. When analysing these narratives, the sociologist needs to distinguish between objective markers and subjective interpretation. Memory does not constitute pure recall by the individual. The article illustrates the effect of intersubjective and collective factors on the process of remembering. It calls for a reflexive process to identify, re-interpret and unpack the process of remembering.

Արտահայտչամիջոցների գործառույթները Կոմիտասի «Անտունի» երգում (Ի՞նչ է լսել Դեբյուսին «Անտունի» երգում)

Հոդվածը նվիրված է Կոմիտասի «Անտունի» երգին: XX դարասկզբին Փարիզում Կոմիտասի դասախոսությունների և համերգների շնորհիվ ֆրանսիացի անվանի գործիչները ծանոթացան հայ հոգևոր և ժողովրդական երաժշտության գլուխգործոցներին: Դրանք արժանացան Ռոմեն Ռոլանի, Գաբրիել Ֆորեի, Լուի Լալուայի և այլոց բարձր գնահատականին: Ի թիվս այլ երգերի՝ հնչեց «Անտունին», որը խորապես հուզեց հատկապես Կլոդ Դեբյուսիին: Սույն հոդվածում փորձ է արվում լուսաբանելու Դեբյուսիի բարձր գնահատականի շարժառիթները: Վերլուծվում է բանաստեղծական տեքստը, մեղեդին, այնուհետև Կոմիտասի՝ երգից բխեցրած դաշնամուրային նվագակցությունը: Անշուշտ, Դեբյուսին նկատած կլիներ Կոմիտասի զգայուն, յուրօրինակ վերաբերմունքն առանձին հնչյունին, նրբերանգներին, լուսաստվերներին, ինչը բնորոշ էր հատկապես իմպրեսիոնիստներին: Օրինակ՝ «Անտունի» երգի միայն վերջին 12 տակտում Կոմիտասը զետեղել է 35 կատարողական ցուցում: Ավելին՝ հատկանշական են նվագակցության և ռեգիստրների հնչուժի հուժկու հակադրումները, բևեռացումները՝ հատկապես 37-38-րդ տակտերում: Այստեղ վոկալի հնչողությունը երկու ֆորտեից նվազում է մինչև երկու պիանո, մինչդեռ նվագակցությունը հնչում է երկու ֆորտե: Դաշնամուրի այդ «մռնչյունը», տիեզերական կոչը հոդվածագիրը համեմատում է Հրեշտակապետի փողի հետ, որը «Ցասման օրը» պիտի ազդարարի «Ահեղ Դատաստանի» սկիզբը: Նման սուբյեկտիվ մեկնաբանությունը չի բացառվում, քանի որ երգն ունի նաև գոյաբանական հնչեղություն: Բացի այդ՝ նախքան ձայնի մուտքը դաշնամուրային նախաբանը նմանակում է եկեղեցական զանգերին, ինչը ոչ միայն երգի համար ստեղծում է հնչյունային դաշտ, այլ նրան հաղորդում է խորհրդավոր բնույթ: Ահա նաև այս զանգերն են, որ կարող էին Դեբյուսիի հոգում արթնացնել իր իսկ «Զանգեր սաղարթի միջով» և «Ջրասույզ տաճարը» դաշնամուրային պիեսների կերպարները: This article is dedicated to the song Antuni by Komitas.At the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to Komitas's lectures and concerts held in Paris, famous French figures got acquainted with the masterpieces of Armenian folk and sacred music. They were highly praised by Romain Rolland, Gabriel Faure, Louis Laloy, and others. Among other songs, Antuni was performed there, which deeply touched Claude Debussy. This article attempts to shed light on the reason of Debussy’s high appreciation. The poetic text, the melody, and then the piano accompaniment are analyzed which are derived from the song itself. Debussy would have noticed Komitas's sensitive and unique attitude to individual sounds and nuances, which was especially typical of the Impressionist artists. For example, in the last twelve bars of the song Antuni, Komitas has written as much as 35 performance marks. Moreover, the strong contrasts of dynamics in different ranges in the accompaniment are to be noted, especially in the bars 37-38. Here the volume of the voice decreases from ff to pp, while the accompaniment continues sounding ff. The author of the article compares this "roar" of the piano, the cosmic call, to the trumpet of the Archangel, which will announce the beginning of the “Day of Wrath” on the “Doomsday.” Such a subjective interpretation is not excluded, as the song also has an ontological meaning. In addition, before the voice enters, the piano accompaniment imitates church bells, which not only creates a sound environment for the song, but also endows it with a mysterious character. These are the bells that could awaken in Debussy's soul the characters of his own piano works.

Isomorphic mapping in fictional interpretation

This chapter investigates how readers/hearers come to assign a subjective interpretation to a fictional text. It argues that fictional texts use a speech act operator that involves an inference from the text worlds to the reader’s reality (Bauer and Beck 2014). The inference is based on a mapping from concepts in the text to real objects, properties, and relations which has isomorphic features, i.e., it is a structure-preserving mapping. We illustrate the workings of our semantic framework by applying it to two poems by Emily Dickinson and offer some generalizations regarding plausible vs. implausible mappings and what governs their choice.

A Closer Look at Bleach Baths: Evidence, Tub Size, and Instructions

Dilute sodium hypochlorite (bleach) baths have been used in routine care for many dermatologic conditions, namely atopic dermatitis. The benefits of bleach baths in reducing bacterial carriage have been well documented; however, the instructions often require subjective interpretation of bathtub size and may result in varying concentrations of bleach. Herein, we review the evidence for use of bleach baths and provide a method for ensuring that proper bleach concentrations are achieved.

Perspectival usages of French past time verbal tenses: an experimental investigation

In this paper, we carried out two experimental studies to investigate whether verbal tenses, in their perspectival usages, give access to the speaker’s perspective. Study 1 is an annotation study in which annotators evaluated corpus excerpts as expressing situations or narrating events in a subjective or objective way. We manipulated access to the verbal tense: half of the annotators saw the tense of the verbs, and half saw only infinitive forms of the verbs. Study 2 is a self-paced reading experiment in which we examined how native speakers of French process utterances with the Passé Simple when it is preceded by aujourd’hui (semantic incompatibility solved pragmatically by perspective-taking), hier (semantic and pragmatic compatibility) and en ce moment (semantic incompatibility which cannot be solved pragmatically). The results of Study 1 suggest that the subjective interpretation of an utterance is not triggered by its verbal tense. Study 2 questions the idea that perspective-taking is a component of speaker’s subjectivity. In general, our experimental findings do not support the hypothesis that verbal tenses give access to speaker’s subjectivity, a theoretical hypothesis which has never before been directly experimentally tested.

How Not to Know the Principle of Induction

In The Problems of Philosophy, Bertrand Russell presents a justification of induction based on a principle he refers to as “the principle of induction.” Owing to the ambiguity of the notion of probability, the principle of induction may be interpreted in two different ways. If interpreted in terms of the subjective interpretation of probability, the principle of induction may be known a priori to be true. But it is unclear how this should give us any confidence in our use of induction, since induction is applied to the external world outside our minds. If the principle is interpreted in light of the objective interpretation of induction, it cannot be known to be true a priori, since it applies to frequencies that occur in the world outside the mind, and these cannot be known without recourse to experience. Russell’s principle of induction therefore fails to provide a satisfactory justification of induction.

Appraising the Impact of Kenya’s Cyber-Harassment Law on the Freedom of Expression

Kenya’s Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act makes it an offence, in Section 27, for a person to communicate with another a message that they know or ought to know would cause the recipient fear; is indecent or offensive in nature; or would detrimentally affect the recipient. This offence carries a penalty of either a 20 million shilling fine or a 10-year term of imprisonment or—discretionarily—both. While the offence is termed ‘cyber-harassment’, its wording appears to exclude a number of offences that would count as cyber-harassment such as cyber-stalking, doxing or impersonation. In fact, its wording is vague and overbroad, using undefined terms such as ‘detrimentally affect’ which require subjective interpretation. Cyber-harassment laws constitute a limitation on the freedom of expression and as such, ought to conform to the limitations of human rights test as provided in Article 24 of the Constitution. Where the aim sought is legitimate in a democratic society and other conditions such as legality are met, this limitation is valid. This paper reviews Kenya’s law that was recently upheld by the High Court in Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) v Attorney General & Three others; Article 19 East Africa & another and finds that it fails to meet the limitations test prescribed under Article 24 of the Constitution. It argues that Section 27 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act is therefore overbroad and has the potential to be used as a tool for the unconstitutional suppression of legitimate criticism.

News Text: Genre Transformation

The article considers a news text as a secondary type of text where news content undergoes modifications as a result of humorous interpretation. New trends in media coverage, which lead to a change in its format and linguistic content, are analyzed. The creation of a secondary news text / genre is shown as performed through transforming the main (primary) news text. The secondary media text belongs to the comic picture of the world, the modeling of which becomes possible due to various means of the comic which fulfill social-critical, aesthetic and entertainment functions. The empirical material of the study comprises 530 news texts telecast at the beginning of the program "Evening Urgant" on Channel One in 2017–2020. The identified mechanism of news transformation includes the use of irony, sarcasm, comic exaggeration and understatement, references to precedent phenomena, the techniques of allegory, comic dissonance and comic surprise, comic exposure, etc. The analysis of the news transformation mechanism revealed a reduction in the primary news component with a simultaneous "build-up" of a pragmatic component through the use of various means and techniques of the comic. This leads to the construction of a secondary news text, which, in turn, is characterized by a recombined semantic content and subjective interpretation of the primary news piece.