Unofficial toponyms in the language consciousness of Yaroslavl residents (on the example of the toponym Bragino)

The article presents a psycholinguistic description of unofficial toponyms of Yaroslavl on the example of one of them. Based on the data of a free associative experiment, the associative fields of the unofficial toponym Bragino were formed in two age groups of subjects: from 18 to 30 years and from 30 to 80 years. When comparing the obtained associative fields, their core and periphery, and semantic groups, the peculiarities of understanding this lexeme by different age groups were revealed. It is shown that the psycholinguistic description of the analyzed lexeme differs in two groups of subjects: the core of the field partially coincides, semantic groups of associative fields overlap, but most of them are different in volume, small semantic groups are relevant only in one group of subjects. As a part of the obtained associative fields, evaluation reactions were identified, both positive and negative. It is shown that evaluative reactions are more common in the youth sphere, but negative-evaluative reactions are superior to positive-evaluative ones in both groups of subjects. In general, the study allows us to draw conclusions about the development of the unofficial toponym by Yaroslavl residents and the similarity and differentiation of associative fields in different age groups.

Harnessing Visible Representation to Mitigate Bias

Numerous attempts to improve diversity by way of changing the hearts of decision makers have fallen short of the desired outcome. One underappreciated factor that contributes to bias resides not in decision makers’ hearts, but instead in their minds. People possess images, or mental representations, for specific roles and professions. Which mental image or representation springs spontaneously to mind depends on the current status quo within a field. Whether or not an individual or groups’ appearance matches visual stereotypes results in perceptually mediated preferences and prejudices, both of which harbor pernicious assumptions about who belongs in a professional setting and why. Leveraging these scientific insights can enact change. Shifting visible exemplars can change people’s mental representations and their heart’s evaluative reactions to others.

Network analysis of attitudes towards immigrants in Asia

This study models cross-national attitudes towards immigrants in East and Southeast Asia as a signed and weighted bipartite network of countries and evaluative reactions to a variety of political issues, or determinants. This network is then projected into two one-mode networks, one of countries and one of determinants, and community detection methods are applied. The paper aims to fill two deficiencies in the current research on attitudes towards immigrants: 1) the lack of cross-national studies in Asia, a region where migration is growing, and 2) the tendency of researchers to treat determinants as uncorrelated, despite the interdependent nature of evaluative reactions. The results show that the nine countries in the sample are a cohesive clique, showing greater similarities than differences in the determinants of their attitudes. A blockmodeling approach was employed to identify eight determinants in attitudes towards immigrants, namely views on independence and social dependencies, group identities, absolute or relative moral orientation, attitudes towards democracy, science and technology, prejudice and stigma, and two determinants related to religion. However, the findings of this survey yielded some surprising results when compared with the literature review. First, education was not found to be a significant determinants of attitudes towards immigrants, despite its strong and consistent predictive power in European models. Second, prejudice appears to be mediated in part by religion, especially in religious identification and belief in God. Group identity and prejudice also appear to be related, though only weakly. Finally, anxiety appears in clusters related to social norms, suggesting that fears regarding immigrants relates closely to expectations of others’ behavior.

Accurate by Being Noisy: A Formal Network Model of Implicit Measures of Attitudes

In this article, we model implicit attitude measures using our network theory of attitudes. The model rests on the assumption that implicit measures limit attitudinal entropy reduction, because implicit measures represent a measurement outcome that is the result of evaluating the attitude object in a quick and effortless manner. Implicit measures therefore assess attitudes in high entropy states (i.e., inconsistent and unstable states). In a simulation, we illustrate the implications of our network theory for implicit measures. The results of this simulation show a paradoxical result: Implicit measures can provide a more accurate assessment of conflicting evaluative reactions to an attitude object (e.g., evaluative reactions not in line with the dominant evaluative reactions) than explicit measures, because they assess these properties in a noisier and less reliable manner. We conclude that our network theory of attitudes increases the connection between substantive theorizing on attitudes and psychometric properties of implicit measures.

ТЕКСТ ДИЛЕТАНТА VS НЕОДНОРОДНОСТЬ МАССОВОЙ РЕЧЕВОЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ

Введение. Дилетантский текст представляет собой заметное явление современной массовой (не элитарной) речевой культуры. К факторам, обеспечивающим продвижение данного типа текстов в СМИ, относятся приоритет гедонистической функции в ущерб познавательной, а также интерес социума к публичной личности, которой институт медиа предоставляет возможность высказываться по вопросам, не связанным с полученным образованием и профессией. Цель – исследование восприятия дилетантского текста (его содержание и формы) разными группами реципиентов. Проблематика исследования направлена на выявление неоднородности массовой речевой культуры через сопоставление оценочных позиций разных адресатов одного текста. Материал и методы. Как образец дилетантского текста использован текст главного редактора глянцевого журнала, который подчеркнуто дистанцируется от специалистов в обсуждаемой им области знания (филологии). На основе семантико-стилистического метода анализируется речевой материал, полученный в психолингвистическом эксперименте, т. е. вторичные тексты-реакции. Реципиенты поделены на три группы: неспециалисты от 18 до 44 лет; неспециалисты от 50 до 62 лет; студенты, обучающиеся по направлению «Филология». Результаты исследования. Установлено, что текст транслирует относительно достоверную информацию (научное и околонаучное знание, лингвистический миф), содержит фактические ошибки. Экспериментальное исследование оценочных реакций на текст показывает, что транслируемые текстом сведения некритично воспринимаются значительной частью реципиентов. Отношение к дилетанту как социальному типу у неспециалистов зависит от возраста: молодые участники эксперимента относятся к нему более лояльно, чем реципиенты старшей группы. Студенты, освоившие в теории и на практике обсуждаемую проблему, высказываются о суждениях дилетанта резко негативно. Оценки речевых особенностей текста коррелируют с оценками содержания. Младшая группа одобряет юмор, доступность, «легкость», с которой подается информация; старшая группа отмечает в тексте речевую агрессию, нарушение этических норм. Филологи в своих оценках речевой манеры автора ближе к старшей группе, то есть консервативнее своих сверстников. Научная новизна и практическая значимость. В лингвистический оборот вводится понятие дилетантского текста и его автора; уточняются условия, обусловливающие выдвижение фигуры дилетанта как субъекта массовой коммуникации; на основе отношения к дилетантскому тексту обосновывается наличие поколенченских вариантов массовой речевой культуры. Заключение. Оценочные реакции на одну из разновидностей современной массовой культуры – дилетантский текст – позволяют говорить о неоднородности этой культуры, а именно о существовании старшей и младшей коммуникативной нормы. Позиции младшей нормы в массовой речевой культуре являются более сильными. Этот вывод сделан на основании того, что речевые особенности исходного текста, получившие у реципиентов младшей группы одобрение, а реципиентов старшей – неодобрение, рассматриваются в современной стилистике как наиболее яркие черты прессы в целом.Introduction. The amateurish text is a notable phenomenon of modern mass (not elitist) speech culture. Factors that ensure the promotion of this type of text in the media include the priority of the hedonistic function to the detriment of the cognitive, as well as the interest of society in the public figure, which the media institute provides an opportunity to speak on issues not related to education and profession. The aim of the article is to study the perception of an amateurish text (its content and form) by different groups of recipients. The research issues are aimed at identifying the heterogeneity of mass speech culture by comparing the estimated positions of different recipients of the same text. Material and methods. As an example of amateurish text, the text of the chief editor of a glossy magazine is used, which emphasizes distance from specialists in the field of knowledge (philology) that he discusses. Based on the semantic- stylistic method, speech material obtained in a psycholinguistic experiment, that is, secondary reaction texts, is analyzed. Recipients are divided into three groups: non-specialists from 18 to 44 years old; non-specialists from 50 to 62 years old; students studying in the direction of “Philology”. Results and discussion. It is established that the text broadcasts relatively reliable information (scientific and semiscientific knowledge, a linguistic myth), contains factual errors. An experimental study of evaluative reactions to the text shows that the information transmitted by the text is uncritically accepted by a significant part of the recipients. Non-specialists regard the amateur as a social type depending on age: young participants in the experiment are more loyal to him than senior group recipients. Students who have mastered the problem under discussion in theory and practice speak out sharply negatively about amateur judgments. Assessment of the speech features of the text correlate with the assessment of content. The younger group approves of the humor, accessibility, “ease” with which the information is presented; the senior group notes in the text speech aggression, violation of ethical standards. Philologists in their assessments of the author’s speech style are closer to the older group, that is, more conservative than their peers. Conclusion. Evaluative reactions to one of the varieties of modern mass culture – the amateurish text – allow us to talk about the heterogeneity of this culture, namely the existence of an older and younger communicative norm. The positions of the younger norm in mass speech culture are stronger. This conclusion is based on the fact that the speech features of the source text, which received approval from the younger group recipients, and disapproval of the senior recipients, are considered in modern style as the most striking features of the press as a whole.

Experiment as an Integral Part of the Methodology of Comparative Research

The author offers an associative experiment as an effective means for identifying the psychologically relevant content of the word and its specificity in various languages. The comparative study of lexical units is usually based on explanatory dictionaries, which cannot fix the dynamics of language units connected to the oral activity of individuals. The author theoretically justifies the identification of a set of features of association, which make it possible to effectively compare the structure and content of associative fields of different words and languages. It is highlighted in the article that it is important to interpret the relation between stimulus and reaction, rather than the content of a particular associate. It allows us to offer fundamentally different parameters for creating associative fields of compared languages. The field is based now only on frequency of associates. The "stimulus – reaction" relation that is regarded as a verbal action makes it possible to actualize the motive of the verbal action in the semantics of associates. This allows us to clarify methods of identifying the personal meaning represented by the associate and to find out dominant features of the association that may become the basis for determining the semantic difference between meanings. The author sets parameters by which one can estimate how the meaning of a word of the compared languages changes. The parameters help to define: a decrease in the number of actualized semantic signs in different zones of the associative field; reduction of the diversity of reactions and the number of single reactions in the associative fields; the prevalence of the number of conceptual and operational reactions over emotionally evaluative reactions and reactions-conceptions; a decrease in the number of metaphorical and nationally specific or culturally significant reactions; changing of the positive connotation of a lexeme to neutral and negative; the number of rejections (in percentage correlation with the total set of associates).

Language Attitudes

Language attitudes are evaluative reactions to different language varieties. They reflect, at least in part, two sequential cognitive processes: social categorization and stereotyping. First, listeners use linguistic cues (e.g., accent) to infer speakers’ social group membership(s). Second, based on that categorization, they attribute to speakers stereotypic traits associated with those inferred group membership(s). Language attitudes are organized along two evaluative dimensions: status (e.g., intelligent, educated) and solidarity (e.g., friendly, pleasant). Past research has primarily focused on documenting attitudes toward standard and nonstandard language varieties. Standard varieties are those that adhere to codified norms defining correct usage in terms of grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary, whereas nonstandard varieties are those that depart from such norms in some manner (e.g., pronunciation). Standard and nonstandard varieties elicit different evaluative reactions along the status and solidarity dimensions. Status attributions are based primarily on perceptions of socioeconomic status. Because standard varieties tend to be associated with dominant socioeconomic groups within a given society, standard speakers are typically attributed more status than nonstandard speakers. Solidarity attributions tend to be based on in-group loyalty. Language is an important symbol of social identity, and people tend to attribute more solidarity to members of their own linguistic community, especially when that community is characterized by high or increasing vitality (i.e., status, demographics, institutional support). As a result, nonstandard language varieties can sometimes possess covert prestige in the speech community in which they are the speech norms. Language attitudes are socialized early in life. At a very young age, children tend to prefer their own language variety. However, most (if not all) children gradually acquire the attitudes of the dominant group, showing a clear status preference for standard over nonstandard varieties around the first years of formal education and sometimes much earlier. Language attitudes can be socialized through various agents, including educators, peers, family, and the media. Because language attitudes are learned, they are inherently prone to change. Language attitudes may change in response to shifts in intergroup relations and government language policies, as well as more dynamically as a function of the social comparative context in which they are evoked. Once evoked, language attitudes can have myriad behavioral consequences, with negative attitudes typically promoting prejudice, discrimination, and problematic social interactions.

The embedded indexical value of /s/-fronting in Afrikaans and South African English

This paper examines the indexical value of /s/-fronting in White Afrikaans and in White South African English (WSAfE). Prior research on this feature has shown that fronted articulations of /s/ in WSAfE serve as a regional and social indicator of the wealthy northern suburbs of Johannesburg, and anecdotal evidence suggests that the feature carries a similar meaning in White Afrikaans. This study therefore aims to examine whether the variable carries similar meanings across the two languages. Data are based on the evaluative reactions toward different experimental stimuli that were presented to 214 Afrikaans-English bilinguals in South Africa during a modified matched-guise task. The results indicate that /s/-fronting in a man’s voice is perceived in similar terms in White Afrikaans and WSAfE though it carries somewhat different meanings across the two languages when it occurs in a woman’s voice, a difference related in turn to different approaches to gender across the two speech communities. The results of this research, and the indexical value of /s/-fronting in the two languages, are therefore only understandable in terms of certain sociohistorical and sociological differences between the two speech communities. The article ends with some discussion relating to the possible source of the relevant similarities and differences, i.e., parallel innovation or sociophonetic transfer.