A Corpus-based Contrastive Study on English and Chinese Semantic Prime happen and fasheng in Natural Semantic Metalanguage

This paper reports a corpus-based study on English and Chinese semantic prime happen and fasheng in Natural Semantic Metalanguage. With the aids of computer software Wordsmith 5.0 and SPSS19.0, we conducted a contrastive study on happen and fasheng based on a small English and Chinese comparable corpus constructed by ourselves. By extracting evidence from the corpus, the distribution of happen and fasheng, their syntactic patterns, their colligation types as well as their semantic prosody are identified and analyzed. We found that there is no significant difference between English semantic prime happen and its Chinese counterpart fasheng with respect to their distribution, their syntactic patterns, their colligations, and their semantic prosody. The results reveal that semantic prime happen is identical with its Chinese counterpart fasheng. Thus it provides an evidence to justify the premise of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage Theory.

Dynamic Comparative Advantage of India and China: A study of Manufacturing Exports

This study analysed the dynamic export competitiveness of Indian manufacturing with China in the world market at HS 2-digit level classification. Dynamic RCA was utilised in this study for 2001-18. The study revealed that India was gaining a better dynamic competitive position of its manufactured exports in the world market than its Chinese counterpart. Besides this, the unfavourable dynamic position of lost opportunity included lesser Indian manufactured exports than China’s. However, China took the lead in including a higher percentage of manufactured products in those dynamic positions that showed relatively higher responsiveness to the declining demand of the world.

Intercultural parallax: Comparative modeling, ethnic taxonomy, and the dynamic object

Comparative modeling is necessary for semiotic inquiry. To better theorize such pursuits, a reflexive turn is in order: comparative modeling needs comparative modeling. In search of experientially grounded analogies better suited for understanding, validating, scrutinizing, and accounting for the situation of the semiotic inquirer, this paper applies insights from Peircean process semiotics and Göran Sonesson’s extended theory of cultural semiotics toward two ends: one theoretical, the other applied. First, I undertake a critical review of recent scholarly and creative works that attempt to adapt concepts of “parallax” as a source domain for comparative modeling activities. I do this in order to continue laying groundwork for a more complex, systematic theory of reflexive semiotic modeling in human inquiry, building on my earlier work. Second, I explore a specific case study of comparative intercultural modeling: namely, nationalist ethnic classification strategies in China and Vietnam. While many researchers have considered the onomastic and geopolitical dimensions of state-sanctioned ethnic categorization programs in these two countries, little has been done to unpack the powerful visual and narratological strategies employed by both; and little has been done to compare the intercultural categories these strategies serve to legitimize. The Vietnamese classification program is clearly modeled on its Chinese counterpart historically, but important categorical mismatches emerge between the two that indicate the presence of hidden diversity. Comparing the two systems also leads to a number of discoveries with implications for further developing the theory of cultural semiotics. Ultimately, the function or purpose of parallax modeling is shown to both comprehend and point beyond nascent intercultural and intracultural models toward more complex blends, by holding all such relations in a comparative frame, not as irreconcilable positions but as a more developed composite sign indicating the presence of yet more deeply buried dynamic objects to be searched out through further collateral experience.

Muslim Businessmen and Chinese Economics in Singkawang

Instead of being known as the “City of Tasbih”, nowadays Singkawang is either known as the “City of Amoy (Chinese girls)” or the “City of Thousand ChineseTemples”. Cap Go Meh annually International Festival is another evidence of Chinese image making towards the city. This indicates a sort of Chinese domination that must be studied, economically, politically, and socially. Furthermore, the research aims to explore the dynamics of Chinese Counterpart especially the Muslim Business elites' challenge such as ironic the ongoing dominating development. To explore the dynamics, in-depth interviews were held. Key figures among Muslim businessmen, Chinese elites, government officials, even laypeople were questioned in order to obtain a clear description and balanced analysis of possible biases and perspectives of the interviewees. Quantitative data are analyzed and discussed. In short, the research’s findings are: The desire of an Islamic Singkawang is still intact, driven mainly by Muslim businessmen, in order to defend the existence and of Muslim in face of their powerlessness amidst the domination of Chinese elites.Keywords: Muslim; businessmen, Chinese, economics, domination, Singkawang

Distinctiveness and Assimilation in Vowel Perception in a Second Language

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate how the distinctive establishment of 2nd language (L2) vowel categories (e.g., how distinctively an L2 vowel is established from nearby L2 vowels and from the native language counterpart in the 1st formant [F1] × 2nd formant [F2] vowel space) affected L2 vowel perception. Method Identification of 12 natural English monophthongs, and categorization and rating of synthetic English vowels /i/ and /ɪ/ in the F1 × F2 space were measured for Chinese-native (CN) and English-native (EN) listeners. CN listeners were also examined with categorization and rating of Chinese vowels in the F1 × F2 space. Results As expected, EN listeners significantly outperformed CN listeners in English vowel identification. Whereas EN listeners showed distinctive establishment of 2 English vowels, CN listeners had multiple patterns of L2 vowel establishment: both, 1, or neither established. Moreover, CN listeners' English vowel perception was significantly related to the perceptual distance between the English vowel and its Chinese counterpart, and the perceptual distance between the adjacent English vowels. Conclusions L2 vowel perception relied on listeners' capacity to distinctively establish L2 vowel categories that were distant from the nearby L2 vowels.

An Empirical Study on the Impact of Trade War on Both the US and Chinese Economies, Based on the Value-at-risk Approach

The trade war between the US and China has led to global instability, this makes studying this topic very important and sensitive. This study aims to show the impact of the trade war on both the United States and China, by studying both US and Chinese companies before and after the trade war.Although the trade war is still ongoing and has not ended, but it is long enough to judge its impact on the two countries. In this study, the value at risk was used as a tool to compare the size of the risks to both the US and Chinese portfolios before and after the trade war, the results showed that the VaR of the US and Chinese portfolio after the trade war was greater than the VaR before the trade war, This means that the two countries were affected by the trade war.However, the results also showed that this change in the VaR of the US portfolio was greater than the change in the VaR of the Chinese portfolio, this means that the US portfolio has been more affected by the trade war than its Chinese counterpart.

Will Change in Government Affect China–Pakistan Economic Corridor? The BRI, CPEC and the Khan Government: An Analysis

China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was formally launched in 2015. From the very outset, skeptics raised doubts about its sustainability and meaningfulness for particularly Pakistani society, economy and the state. Nevertheless, the Sharif government in strategic interaction with its Chinese counterpart ably thwarted such controversies and ensured execution of the CPEC projects in different parts of Pakistan. Though within Pakistan, political opposition and certain nationalist political and social forces voiced their related concerns, for instance, to the “route” alignment, the federal and Punjab government led by the Sharifs held ground and accorded priority to sustain the Corridor by engaging local and provincial stakeholders. However, this was not the case with the Khan government whose commerce advisor doubted the negotiated terms and conditions of the CPEC and, therefore, called for its revision to provide a fair deal to the Pakistani side. Why did the Khan government adopt such a policy? How does such a discourse affect China–Pakistan relation in general and CPEC and the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) in particular? What made the Khan government correct its path ultimately? In other words, does change in government impact CPEC negatively? This paper attempts to address these questions empirically.