When do languages use the same word for different meanings? The Goldilocks Principle in colexification

Lexical ambiguity is pervasive in language, and often systematic. For instance, the Spanish word "dedo" refers to both a toe and a finger, and this TOE-FINGER ambiguity is found in over 100 languages. Previous work shows that systematic ambiguities involve related meanings. This is attributed to cognitive pressure towards simplicity in language, as it makes lexicons easier to learn and use. The present study examines the interplay between this pressure and the competing pressure for languages to support accurate information transfer. We hypothesize that ambiguity follows a Goldilocks principle that balances the two pressures: meanings are more likely to attach to the same word when they are related to an optimal degree ---neither too much, nor too little. We find support for this principle in data from over 1200 languages and 1400 meanings. Our results thus suggest that universal forces shape the lexicons of natural languages.

Paving the road to hell: The Spanish word menas as a case study

Menas es un término que ha ganado notoriedad en la actual escena política española. Aunque el término tenía un uso neutro en su origen, ya que es un acrónimo de “menores extranjeros no acompañados”, recientemente ha evolucionado a un término con claras connotaciones negativas. Este artículo explora qué tipo de término es menasactualmente. Específicamente, examinaremos si menas es un slur o un TESNI, es decir, un término étnico/social neutro usado como insulto. Primero, señalamos las características más definitorias de ambos tipos de términos. Después, por medio de análisis sobre corpus lingüísticos, mostramos que menas exhibe las características más definitorias de los TESNI. Acabamos discutiendo la posible evolución del término, señalando que, aunque el término tiene los rasgos de los TESNI, existen dos posibles escenarios. Por un lado, el término puede conservar sus usos neutros y de este modo seguir siendo un TESNI. Por otro lado, los usos neutros pueden desaparecer y así el término acabar convir-tiéndose en un slur. “Menas” is a term that has attracted a great deal of attention on the political scene in Spain at present. Although the term had a neutral usage originally, being an acronym for unaccompanied foreign minors, it has recently evolved into a term with clear negative connotations. This article explores what kind of term menas is today. Specifically, we will examine whether “menas” is a slur or an ESTI, an ethnic/social term used as an insult. First, we point out the most defining characteristics of both types of terms. Then, using analyses on linguistic corpora, we show that “menas” exhibits the most defining characteristics of TESNI. We end by discussing the possible evolution of the term, pointing out that, although the term presents the features related to ESTIs, there are two possible scenarios. On the one hand, the term may retain its neutral uses and thus remain an ESTI. On the other hand, the neutral uses may disappear, and thus the term may become a slur.

EXPRESS: Does omitting the accent mark in a word affect sentence reading? Evidence from Spanish

Lexical stress in multisyllabic words is consistent in some languages (e.g., first syllable in Finnish), but it is variable in others (e.g., Spanish, English). To help lexical processing in a transparent language like Spanish, scholars have proposed a set of rules specifying which words require an accent mark indicating lexical stress in writing. However, recent word recognition using that lexical decision showed that word identification times were not affected by the omission of a word's accent mark in Spanish. To examine this question in a paradigm with greater ecological validity, we tested whether omitting the accent mark in a Spanish word had a deleterious effect during silent sentence reading. A target word was embedded in a sentence with its accent mark or not. Results showed no reading cost of omitting the word's accent mark in first-pass eye fixation durations, but we found a cost in the total reading time spent on the target word (i.e., including re-reading). Thus, the omission of an accent mark delays late, but not early, lexical processing in Spanish. These findings help constrain the locus of accent mark information in models of visual word recognition and reading. Furthermore, these findings offer some clues on how to simplify the Spanish rules of accentuation.

Emergence of a Bilingual Grammar: Word Order Differences in Monolingual Basque vs. Bilingual Basque-Spanish Predicative Constructions

This article compares the monolingual Basque predicative constructions with bilingual Basque-Spanish predicative constructions. The speech data for the study were collected in the Greater Bilbao area of the Basque Country between 2005 and 2012. The results suggest that code-switching may trigger the convergence of predicative constructions and have a significant impact on the general word order patterns. The monolingual predicative constructions in the data mostly follow the canonical Basque sxv word order (~81%), but the bilingual predicative constructions diverge from this word order in that the predicative element is located in a post-verbal position, as in Spanish (~80%). The Spanish lexical elements seem to be strongly associated with the corresponding Spanish construction, the word order of which is then applied to otherwise Basque predicative constructions. I explain the predominance of the Spanish word order in the bilingual constructions by a combination of processing-related factors and sociolinguistic factors.

Thinking about precaridad. On the critique of precarious reason

Following some arguments of his book Crítica de la razón precaria. La vida intelectual ante la obligación de lo extraordinario (2019), the author approaches the phenomenon of the intellectual precariousness pointing out its implications for subjectivity and knowledge. Considering the global nature of the neoliberal configuration of the educational and research practices, the Spanish word precariedad is used to encapsulate the interwoven meanings of precarity/precariousness. This presentation of the “precarious reason” concludes with the proposal of an alternative understanding of intellectual life from a plebeian perspective.

Spanish Pediatric Picture Identification Test

Purpose The purpose of this study was to construct and validate a recorded word recognition test for monolingual Spanish-speaking children utilizing a picture board and a picture-pointing task. Design The Spanish Pediatric Picture Identification Test was developed and validated in this study. Test construction steps included (a) producing new digital recordings of word lists created by Comstock and Martin (1984) using a bilingual Spanish–English female, (b) obtaining list equivalency, (c) creating digitally illustrated pictures representing the word lists, (d) validating the pictures using monolingual Spanish-speaking and bilingual Spanish–English children, and (e) re-establishing list equivalency and obtaining performance–intensity functions using a picture-pointing task with monolingual Spanish-speaking children and bilingual Spanish–English adults. Results Normative data for three Spanish word recognition lists were established. Performance–intensity functions at sensation levels from 0 to 40 dB SL in 8-dB steps were obtained, establishing list equivalency for Lists 1, 2, and 3. Conclusions The Spanish Pediatric Picture Identification Test was developed and validated as a picture-pointing task for word recognition with monolingual Spanish-speaking children. The two validated channel recordings include an English translation for ease of testing by clinicians lacking Spanish language skills. Future validation will be conducted with bilingual Spanish–English children with normal hearing and with hearing loss.

Phenomenological Consciousness as a Topos of Human Existence Sense Variation in the World (Based on Plural Derivatives of The Theme + Suffix “Ada” Structural Type of the Spanish Word-Building Subsystem)

The article is devoted to the analysis of constitution and regular reproduction of the Spanish word-building models based on the reconstruction of invariance / means of explicitness topoi and distinguishing various abstractions of consciousness: phenomenological, empirical and socio-genesis. The description and analysis into the noematic senses constituting the topological field of phenomenological consciousness as a form of human existence world knowledge were made. The acts of noematic meaning prospectivization into means of intelligibility / context of sense-invariants of discrete intentionality were analyzed.The cognitive approach in modern linguistics focuses on the isolation of knowledge representation structures in their linguistic forms, conceptual organization of knowledge in the processes of understanding and generation of messages. At the same time, its attention is riveted to the question of what structures of consciousness the word corresponds to, and which role it plays in human speech and thinking.Nowadays, reflection on the facts of language tends to deploy the interparadigmatic method of study, combining theories and directions of scientific cognition, found far away from each other. The greatest challenge for the researcher is to determine the range and boundaries of interparadigmality in terms of likelihood / adequacy of its application to the specifics of language material. Furthermore, in our view, the value of linguistic research also determines the "feedback" factor, under which analysis of the linguistic material may serve as a specific argument for confirming / refuting the propositions of several philosophical theories and function as "Ariadne‘s thread of " bringing together philosophy and linguistic reflection.