EFL PHONOLOGY: A CASE STUDY OF ENGLISH FRICATIVE PRODUCTION BY INDONESIAN LEARNERS/FONOLOGI BAHASA INGGRIS SEBAGAI BAHASA ASING: STUDI KASUS PELAFALAN BUNYI GESER OLEH MAHASISWA INDONESIA

This study reports the difficulties 40 first-year Indonesian college students, majoring in English, had in pronouncing the English fricatives. The aim of this paper is, first, to reveal how these Indonesian EFL learners produced English fricatives, the order of difficulties, and the pronunciation constraints they experienced. The second aim is to identify the possible causes of the pronunciation difficulties. In collecting the data, two types of tasks were administered: a word-list-reading task (Task 1) and a sentence-list-reading task (Task 2). By using Wilcoxon based T-Test, it was revealed that there was a significant difference in the number of errors in Task 1 and Task 2. There was also an increase in errors in Task 2. The results show that the order of difficulties Indonesian learners had in producing fricative sounds (from the most to the least problematic) were: /v/, /ʃ/, /ð/, /θ/, /z/, /ʒ/, /f/, and /s/. It is likely that the influence of the challenging English spelling system played the most important role in the students’ errors. Other factors such as transfer of L1 and the developmental process also contributed to the errors. This research implies that teachers need to apply certain strategies to meet students’ needs. Keywords: English, fricative, Indonesian students, errors AbstrakPenelitian ini melaporkan kesulitan yang dialami mahasiswa tahun pertama Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris dalam melafalkan bunyi geser , urutan kesulitan dan kendala dalam pelafalan bunyi tersebut. Tujuan kedua penelitian ini adalah mengidentifikasi kemungkian sebab-sebab dari kesulitan ini. Dua jenis tugas diberikan kepada siswa untuk mengumpulkan data yaitu tugas membaca daftar kata (Tugas 1) dan tugas membaca daftar kalimat (Tugas 2). Berdasarkan hasil Uji T Wilcoxon terungkap bahwa terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan dari segi jumlah kesalahan dalam mengerjakan tugas I dan tugas 2. Juga terdapat peningkatan kesalahan dalam Tugas 2. Hasil-hasil ini memperlihatkan bahwa urutan kesulitan yang dialami mahasiswa Indonesia dalam melafalkan bunyi frikatif ( dari yang paling bermasalah hingga yang kurang bermasalah ) adalah : /v/, /ʃ/, /ð/, /θ/, /z/, /ʒ/, /f/, dan /s/. Ada kecenderungan bahwa sistem ejaan Bahasa Inggris yang rumit sangat besar pengaruhnya terhadap kesalahan-kesalahan yang dibuat oleh mahasiswa. Faktor-faktor lain seperti transfer dari BI dan proses perkembangan juga berkontribusi terhadap kesalahan-kesalahan tersebut. Implikasi penelitian ini adalah dosen atau guru dapat menerapkan strategi-srategi tertentu untuk memenuhi kebutuhan mahasiswa atau siswa. Kata kunci: bahasa Inggris, bunyi geser, mahasiswa Indonesia, kesalahan

Determining the Intensity of Basic Emotions among People Suffering from Anorexia Nervosa Based on Free Statements about Their Body

Objective: This study sought to address one of the challenges of psychiatry-computer aided diagnosis and therapy of anorexia nervosa. The goal of the paper is to present a method of determining the intensity of five emotions (happiness, sadness, anxiety, anger and disgust) in medical notes, which was then used to analyze the feelings of people suffering from anorexia nervosa. In total, 96 notes were researched (46 from people suffering from anorexia and 52 from healthy people). Method: The developed solution allows a comprehensive assessment of the intensity of five feelings (happiness, sadness, anxiety, anger and disgust) occurring in text notes. This method implements Nencki Affective Word List dictionary extension, in which the original version has a limited vocabulary. The method was tested on a group of patients suffering from anorexia nervosa and a control group (healthy people without an eating disorder). Of the analyzed medical, only 8% of the words are in the original dictionary. Results: As a result of the study, two emotional profiles were obtained: one pattern for a healthy person and one for a person suffering from anorexia nervosa. Comparing the average emotional intensity in profiles of a healthy person and person with a disorder, a higher value of happiness intensity is noticeable in the profile of a healthy person than in the profile of a person with an illness. The opposite situation occurs with other emotions (sadness, anxiety, disgust, anger); they reach higher values in the case of the profile of a person suffering from anorexia nervosa. Discussion: The presented method can be used when observing the patient’s progress during applied therapy. It allows us to state whether the chosen method has a positive effect on the mental state of the patient, and if his emotional profile is similar to the emotional profile of a healthy person. The method can also be used during first diagnosis visit.

Study of Lexical Variation between Dhani and Majhi Punjabi

The present study highlights lexical variation in Dhani and Majhi dialects of Punjabi language spoken in Pakistani Punjab that may lead to a communication gap. It focuses on the description of vocabulary differences of words of daily use. It is partly qualitative and partly quantitative research, which was conducted through a survey. Data were collected from thirty participants (15 speakers from each variety) from Chakwal district of Rawalpindi Division and Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib districts of Lahore Division in Punjab province, Pakistan. It was collected through a word list consisting of two hundred and sixty vocabulary items that are used in daily conversation. Results retrieved from analysis of the collected data show that two hundred and nine Dhani words, i-e 80 %, do not exist in Majhi variety at all and have their alternatives in Majhi whereas, fifty-one words i-e 20 % exist but are pronounced differently in Majhi.

Shifting the Blame: Storm and Wildfire Dramatic Images in American News Media

Some media frames might be likely to seek to evoke a certain sentiment, and that natural disaster coverage by the media focuses on the current impact of disasters. In their coverage, American news media use polar sentiment words to create bleeding images of natural disasters, potentially counter-productive to the wisdom of dealing with the natural disaster. Identifying the sentiment words that lead to a misperception of natural disasters can help journalists adopt the wisdom that natural disasters are not a human enemy. The corpus-assisted discourse studies (CADS) reported in this article investigates the American media's issues for dramatic reporting and the polar sentiment words utilized in the framing. The corpus is built from 100 news articles reporting wildfires and storms by ten major online American news media published from January 1, 2018, through December 31, 2020. It uses AntConc to generate word-list and word-link from which it identifies the dominant issues. Subsequently, it compares the AntConc word-list with A List of Sentiment Words to reveal the tones and dramatic imaging. The findings show that the dominant issues in storm reporting are description, impact, and prediction, while wildfire reporting are cause, impact, action, and prediction. The negative polar words produce dramatic images of storm as a violent beast and wildfire as a vengeful invader. Such description is provocative to blaming natural disasters as a cause of human suffering rather than improving our behaviors to reduce the suffering. Thus, it is counter-productive to acquiring wisdom for dealing with natural disasters.

'O li'ili'I 'o lisega 'o le fanaa'e: Missionary and government influences on Samoan language change 1906-2014

<p>The arrival of the missionaries and foreign administrations¹ in Sāmoa in 1830 and 1900, respectively, initiated a surge in the integration of foreign types (words) in the gagana Sāmoa (Samoan language). To date, research regarding changes to the gagana as a result of this contact has largely been observational (Pratt 1862, Cain 1986, Mosel and Hovdhaugen 1992, Allardice 2000, Lāmeta 2005, Tamasese 2005, Ma‘ia‘i 2010, Macpherson 2010, Kruse-Vā‘ai 2011, Ma‘ilo 2016). While these studies are valuable, this study seeks to enhance current research through a systematic and empirical examination of changes to the gagana. As a result, this research is guided by three research questions: 1. What can a diachronic analysis of the lexicons of lāuga fa‘amatai and lāuga fa‘alelotu tell us about language change in gagana Sāmoa since the arrival of the missionaries in 1830? 2. What has been the nature of language contact between lāuga fa‘amatai and lāuga fa‘alelotu? 3. To what extent can changes in the gagana Sāmoa be attributed to social change? Fa‘afaletui and Corpus methodologies were used. The Fa‘afaletui methodology is a Samoan methodology used to obtain the perceptions of insider informants about changes to the gagana. The corpus methodology was used as an empirical method to also analyse changes to the gagana. To investigate changes to the gagana over time and at specific periods, four indicator years were used for the corpus to represent a significant period of social contact in Sāmoa. These are: 1906, 1944, 1977 and 2014. From the corpus of Sulu Sāmoa and Sāvali texts from 1906-2014, a combined word list consisting of 1,475 foreign types was identified. The perceptions of insider informants point to the profound influence of the missions on the gagana, and how the written word, particularly the translation of the Bible, aided religious conversion and formalised new ideologies and vocabularies. Their perceptions also point to the considerable influence of government on the gagana in the areas of government divisions and education. In addition, the lack of gagana standardisation and the increase in Samoan population movement and growth in metropolitan centres have intensified language change. The fa‘afaletui sessions were enhanced by the corpus findings which indicate that over time, the evolution of foreign words into the gagana was integrated using five different lexical constructions and demonstrate the Samoan language has changed considerably between 1906-2014. The implementation of the fa‘afaletui and corpus methodologies meets the Pacific research aims of this research in that it values the use of both Pacific and non-Pacific methodologies for Pacific language research. This research offers a platform for examining changes to gagana Sāmoa over time that draws on the perspectives of insider informants and data from newspaper texts. The examination is an in-depth discussion and overview of the influences of the mission Church and Westminster State on changes to the gagana and provides a holistic approach and appreciation of the correlations between language and the social environment. Finally, this research values the call by Teaiwa (2009) for more Pacific-related research that values and incorporates both Pacific and non-Pacific methodologies. ¹ Foreign administrations here refer to the formal establishment of the German and New Zealand administrations in 1900 and 1914 respectively. It does not include consulates that were in place in Sāmoa prior to 1900.</p>

'O li'ili'I 'o lisega 'o le fanaa'e: Missionary and government influences on Samoan language change 1906-2014

<p>The arrival of the missionaries and foreign administrations¹ in Sāmoa in 1830 and 1900, respectively, initiated a surge in the integration of foreign types (words) in the gagana Sāmoa (Samoan language). To date, research regarding changes to the gagana as a result of this contact has largely been observational (Pratt 1862, Cain 1986, Mosel and Hovdhaugen 1992, Allardice 2000, Lāmeta 2005, Tamasese 2005, Ma‘ia‘i 2010, Macpherson 2010, Kruse-Vā‘ai 2011, Ma‘ilo 2016). While these studies are valuable, this study seeks to enhance current research through a systematic and empirical examination of changes to the gagana. As a result, this research is guided by three research questions: 1. What can a diachronic analysis of the lexicons of lāuga fa‘amatai and lāuga fa‘alelotu tell us about language change in gagana Sāmoa since the arrival of the missionaries in 1830? 2. What has been the nature of language contact between lāuga fa‘amatai and lāuga fa‘alelotu? 3. To what extent can changes in the gagana Sāmoa be attributed to social change? Fa‘afaletui and Corpus methodologies were used. The Fa‘afaletui methodology is a Samoan methodology used to obtain the perceptions of insider informants about changes to the gagana. The corpus methodology was used as an empirical method to also analyse changes to the gagana. To investigate changes to the gagana over time and at specific periods, four indicator years were used for the corpus to represent a significant period of social contact in Sāmoa. These are: 1906, 1944, 1977 and 2014. From the corpus of Sulu Sāmoa and Sāvali texts from 1906-2014, a combined word list consisting of 1,475 foreign types was identified. The perceptions of insider informants point to the profound influence of the missions on the gagana, and how the written word, particularly the translation of the Bible, aided religious conversion and formalised new ideologies and vocabularies. Their perceptions also point to the considerable influence of government on the gagana in the areas of government divisions and education. In addition, the lack of gagana standardisation and the increase in Samoan population movement and growth in metropolitan centres have intensified language change. The fa‘afaletui sessions were enhanced by the corpus findings which indicate that over time, the evolution of foreign words into the gagana was integrated using five different lexical constructions and demonstrate the Samoan language has changed considerably between 1906-2014. The implementation of the fa‘afaletui and corpus methodologies meets the Pacific research aims of this research in that it values the use of both Pacific and non-Pacific methodologies for Pacific language research. This research offers a platform for examining changes to gagana Sāmoa over time that draws on the perspectives of insider informants and data from newspaper texts. The examination is an in-depth discussion and overview of the influences of the mission Church and Westminster State on changes to the gagana and provides a holistic approach and appreciation of the correlations between language and the social environment. Finally, this research values the call by Teaiwa (2009) for more Pacific-related research that values and incorporates both Pacific and non-Pacific methodologies. ¹ Foreign administrations here refer to the formal establishment of the German and New Zealand administrations in 1900 and 1914 respectively. It does not include consulates that were in place in Sāmoa prior to 1900.</p>

Investigating knowledge and use of technical vocabulary in Traditional Chinese Medicine

<p>This research investigates the nature of vocabulary, especially technical vocabulary, in the specialized discipline of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which is an important area of higher education. It consists of three linked studies in correspondence to three research aims using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Study 1 addressed the questions of what kinds of words constitute TCM lexis given its origin, and what is the vocabulary load of English-medium texts in this discipline. To answer these questions, a series of lexical analyses was conducted on three corpora: theory-based and practice-based textbook corpora and a journal article corpus, which reflect the main areas of reading for TCM students. The results showed that while high, mid and low-frequency vocabulary make up a fairly large proportion of these texts, other lexical items such as abbreviations, loan words, medical words, proper nouns, and compounds also feature in them, but in differing proportions depending on the text types. Further, this study found that a large vocabulary of 13,000 word families plus four supplementary lists and two TCM-specific lists is needed. This is the point which most TCM learners can read TCM textbooks and journal articles without vocabulary being a handicap. Study 2 looked more closely at the technical vocabulary in TCM. The nature of technical vocabulary was explored and TCM technical word lists of both single and multiword units were developed for learners and teachers in this discipline. A total of 2,778 word types were selected for the TCM technical word list based on the criteria of relative keyness in the TCM Corpora compared to a general written English corpus, meaningfulness, and frequency. The list provided 36.65% coverage of the corpora from which it was developed. In addition, a TCM technical lexical bundle list with 898 bundles was developed to supplement the technical word list. The findings suggested that lexical bundles play an essential role in creating meaning and structure of TCM discourse. Thus, they should be regarded as a basic linguistic construct since some technical vocabulary needs to be seen in bundles rather than in single words. The last study bridged the gap between corpus-based word lists and the actual ESP vocabulary learning context by way of investigating learners’ understanding of the technical words from the technical word list generated from the second study. Results suggested that learners faced different challenges in technical vocabulary learning depending on their linguistic backgrounds. Specifically, Chinese learners had great difficulty with technical words from the lower-frequency bands of BNC/COCA word lists, while Western learners encountered challenges with loan words borrowed from Chinese. As a result, a certain divergence between the Western and Chinese TCM learners’ understanding of technical words was manifested. These findings indicate that a pedagogically useful word list should be adaptable to learners from different linguistic backgrounds. Drawing on these findings, this thesis also provides methodological, theoretical, and pedagogical implications so that the TCM learners can gain better support in their specialized English vocabulary learning. They can also enable the teachers and course designers to better scaffold their students’ vocabulary development.</p>

Investigating knowledge and use of technical vocabulary in Traditional Chinese Medicine

<p>This research investigates the nature of vocabulary, especially technical vocabulary, in the specialized discipline of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which is an important area of higher education. It consists of three linked studies in correspondence to three research aims using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Study 1 addressed the questions of what kinds of words constitute TCM lexis given its origin, and what is the vocabulary load of English-medium texts in this discipline. To answer these questions, a series of lexical analyses was conducted on three corpora: theory-based and practice-based textbook corpora and a journal article corpus, which reflect the main areas of reading for TCM students. The results showed that while high, mid and low-frequency vocabulary make up a fairly large proportion of these texts, other lexical items such as abbreviations, loan words, medical words, proper nouns, and compounds also feature in them, but in differing proportions depending on the text types. Further, this study found that a large vocabulary of 13,000 word families plus four supplementary lists and two TCM-specific lists is needed. This is the point which most TCM learners can read TCM textbooks and journal articles without vocabulary being a handicap. Study 2 looked more closely at the technical vocabulary in TCM. The nature of technical vocabulary was explored and TCM technical word lists of both single and multiword units were developed for learners and teachers in this discipline. A total of 2,778 word types were selected for the TCM technical word list based on the criteria of relative keyness in the TCM Corpora compared to a general written English corpus, meaningfulness, and frequency. The list provided 36.65% coverage of the corpora from which it was developed. In addition, a TCM technical lexical bundle list with 898 bundles was developed to supplement the technical word list. The findings suggested that lexical bundles play an essential role in creating meaning and structure of TCM discourse. Thus, they should be regarded as a basic linguistic construct since some technical vocabulary needs to be seen in bundles rather than in single words. The last study bridged the gap between corpus-based word lists and the actual ESP vocabulary learning context by way of investigating learners’ understanding of the technical words from the technical word list generated from the second study. Results suggested that learners faced different challenges in technical vocabulary learning depending on their linguistic backgrounds. Specifically, Chinese learners had great difficulty with technical words from the lower-frequency bands of BNC/COCA word lists, while Western learners encountered challenges with loan words borrowed from Chinese. As a result, a certain divergence between the Western and Chinese TCM learners’ understanding of technical words was manifested. These findings indicate that a pedagogically useful word list should be adaptable to learners from different linguistic backgrounds. Drawing on these findings, this thesis also provides methodological, theoretical, and pedagogical implications so that the TCM learners can gain better support in their specialized English vocabulary learning. They can also enable the teachers and course designers to better scaffold their students’ vocabulary development.</p>

Memory Aging Phenotypes Among Older Cancer Survivors: A Latent Growth Analysis of the Health and Retirement Study

While cancer survivors experience many long-term health effects, there is limited evidence on the potentially heterogeneous memory aging of older cancer survivors. We identified memory aging phenotypes of older US cancer survivors, and determined sociodemographic and health-related predictors of membership. Data were from 2,755 survivors aged ≥50 in the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (1998 – 2016). Self-reported first incident cancer diagnosis (except non-melanoma skin cancer) and memory (composite immediate and delayed word-list recall score, combined with proxy-reported cognition) were assessed at biennial interviews. Memory aging phenotypes were identified using latent growth curve (LGC) models, with baseline being time of cancer diagnosis. Logistic regression evaluated predictors of group membership. 5 distinct memory aging groups were identified: low memory (n=165, 6.16%); medium-low memory (n=459, 17.1%); medium-high memory (n=733, 27.4%); high memory (n=750, 28.0%); and very high memory (n=571, 21.3%). The low memory group received less chemotherapy compared to the other groups (20.0% vs. 25.5%, 31.7%, 36.8%, 41.5%%, respectively), and had the shortest mean survival time after diagnosis (1.08 vs 2.10, 2.76, 3.37, 4.31 years, respectively). Older age at diagnosis (OR: 1.71, 95%CI: 1.61-1.82), being male (OR: 4.10, 95%CI: 2.82-6.51), having a history of stroke (OR: 4.62, 95%CI: 2.57-8.30) and depression prior to diagnosis (OR: 1.19, 95%CI: 1.05-1.34) were independently associated with being in the low memory group vs. the medium-high memory group. We identified distinct memory aging phenotypes among older cancer survivors. Further research should evaluate the influence of pre-cancer memory and how these phenotypes differ from the general population.