Social and emotion dimensional organizations in the abstract semantic space: the neuropsychological evidence

An essential aspect of human cognition is supported by a rich reservoir of abstract concepts without tangible external referents (e.g., “honor”, “relationship”, “direction”). While decades of research showed that the neural organization of conceptual knowledge referring to concrete words respects domains of evolutionary salience and sensorimotor attributes, the organization principles of abstract word meanings are poorly understood. Here, we provide neuropsychological evidence for a domain (sociality) and attribute (emotion) structure in abstract word processing. Testing 34 brain-damaged patients on a word-semantic judgment task, we observed double dissociations between social and nonsocial words and a single dissociation of sparing of emotional (relative to non-emotional) words. The lesion profiles of patients with specific dissociations suggest potential neural correlates positively or negatively associated with each dimension. These results unravel a general domain-attribute architecture of word meanings and highlight the roles of the social domain and the emotional attribute in the non-object semantic space.

Development of Abstract Word Knowledge

The development of children’s word knowledge is an important testing ground for the embodied account of word meaning, which proposes that word meanings are grounded in sensorimotor systems. Acquisition of abstract words, in particular, is a noted challenge for strong accounts of embodiment. We examined acquisition of abstract word meanings, using data on development of vocabulary knowledge from early school to University ages. We tested two specific proposals for how abstract words are learned: the affective embodiment account, that emotional experience is key to learning abstract word meanings, and the learning through language proposal, that abstract words are acquired through language experience. We found support for the affective embodiment account: word valence, interoception, and mouth action all facilitated abstract word acquisition more than concrete word acquisition. We tested the learning through language proposal by investigating whether words that appear in more diverse linguistic contexts are earlier acquired. Results showed that contextual diversity facilitated vocabulary acquisition, but did so for both abstract and concrete words. Our results provide evidence that emotion and sensorimotor systems are important to children’s acquisition of abstract words, but there is still considerable variance to be accounted for by other factors. We offer suggestions for future research to examine the acquisition of abstract vocabulary.

Corroborating behavioral evidence for the interplay of representational richness and semantic control in semantic word processing

This study aimed to replicate and validate concreteness and context effects on semantic word processing. In Experiment 1, we replicated the behavioral findings of Hoffman et al. (Cortex 63,250–266, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2014.09.001, 2015) by applying their cueing paradigm with their original stimuli translated into German. We found concreteness and contextual cues to facilitate word processing in a semantic judgment task with 55 healthy adults. The two factors interacted in their effect on reaction times: abstract word processing profited more strongly from a contextual cue, while the concrete words’ processing advantage was reduced but still present. For accuracy, the descriptive pattern of results suggested an interaction, which was, however, not significant. In Experiment 2, we reformulated the contextual cues to avoid repetition of the to-be-processed word. In 83 healthy adults, the same pattern of results emerged, further validating the findings. Our corroborating evidence supports theories integrating representational richness and semantic control mechanisms as complementary mechanisms in semantic word processing.

The Anatomical Correlates of Abstract and Concrete Words: A meta-analytical review of whole-brain imaging studies

Several studies have investigated how abstract and concrete concepts are processed in the brain, but data are controversial, in particular neuroimaging data contrast with clinical neuropsychological observations. A possible explanation could be that previous meta-analyses considered different types of stimuli (nouns, verbs, literal and figurative sentences). Using the ALE method, we meta-analyzed 32 brain-activation imaging studies that considered only words (nouns and verbs). Five clusters were associated with concrete words (the left superior occipital, middle temporal, parahippocampal and bilateral posterior cingulate, angular, and precuneus gyri); four clusters were associated with abstract words (left IFG, superior, and middle temporal gyri). When only nouns were considered three left activation clusters were associated with concrete stimuli and only one with abstract nouns (left IFG). These results confirm that concrete and abstract word processing involves at least partially segregated brain areas, the IFG being relevant for abstract nouns and verbs while more posterior temporo-parieto-occipital regions seem to be crucial for concrete words.

Pengembangan Kartu Kata Berbahasa Arab dan Kegiatan Pembelajarannya untuk Siswa Kelas III Madrasah Aliyah

Word cards are unique, captivating, and specific learning media. In this research, Arabic word cards are used to improve students’ vocabulary mastery in learning Arabic. This research is aimed to (1) develop Arabic word cards and the learning activities for grade III students of Madrasah Aliyah; (2) identify the effectiveness of using Arabic word cards and the learning activities. The method of this research is Research and Development. The data sources include a subject expert, a media expert, a learning expert, a teacher, and students. The data are collected using questionnaires. The word cards are made in two forms, namely mind map, and word-by-word. The Arabic word cards are equipped with Arabic learning activities. Overall, the result of the development and the research shows that the average score is 89% in the valid category with details as follows: subject expert 91.7%, media expert 68.2%, learning expert 92.5%, teacher’s assessment 100%, and students’ assessment 92.8%. Therefore, it can be concluded that Arabic word cards and the learning activities are effective to be used in learning Arabic for grade III students of Madrasah Aliyah. Keywords: development, word cards, Arabic Abstrak: Kartu kata merupakan salah satu media pembelajaran yang unik, memukau, dan spesifik. Dalam penelitian ini, kartu kata berbahasa Arab digunakan untuk meningkatkan penguasaan kosakata siswa dalam mempelajari bahasa Arab. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk: (1) Mengembangkan kartu kata berbahasa Arab dan kegiatan pembelajarannya untuk siswa kelas III Madrasah Aliyah; (2) Mendeskripsikan kelayakan pemanfaatan kartu kata berbahasa Arab dan kegiatan pembelajarannya. Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah Research and Development. Sumber data ini adalah ahli materi, ahli media, ahli pembelajaran, guru, dan siswa. Teknik pengumpulan data menggunakan angket. Pengembangan media ini berupa media kartu kata berbahasa Arab yang memiliki 2 bentuk yaitu bentuk peta konsep dan tampilan perkata. Media kartu kata berbahasa Arab dilengkapi dengan kegiatan pembelajaran bahasa Arab. Secara keseluruhan hasil pengembangan dan penelitian menunjukkan bahwa skor rata-rata sebesar 89% dalam kategori valid dengan rincian: uji ahli materi 91,7%, uji ahli media 68,2%, uji ahli pembelajaran 92,5%, penilaian guru 100%, dan penilaian siswa 92,8%. Dengan demikian, dapat disimpulkan bahwa media kartu kata berbahasa Arab dan kegiatan pembelajaran yang dikembangkan ini layak digunakan dalam pembelajaran bahasa Arab kelas III di Madrasah Aliyah. Kata Kunci: pengembangan, kartu kata, bahasa Arab

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF DICTION USED IN “KUE DADING MANG OLEH”

The background of this research comes from the viral post of Mang Oleh’s homemade named Odading cake. Well-known uniquely reviewed by a man named Ade Londok. The controversial diction that is used by Ade Londok is very interesting, unusual, and of course, amusing. His entertaining figure with his unusual review style made this man from the city of Bandung go viral. Previously, it was well-known that Ade Londok was promoting a typical Bandung home made cake called Odading in an amusing manner. He promoted Odading with his mixed accents, between Sundanese and Indonesian. He also slips in a tickling rhyme so that it makes his figure interesting to be viral. The approach used in this research is critical discourse analysis that used a video of Ade Londok and the script of his speech as the source to collect the data. The findings show that the content used Abstract word, Special word, Popular word, and Jargon. It can be concluded as in its original, primary meaning, refers to writers’ or speakers’ distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression.

Dinamika Hukum Akad Nikah Via Teleconference Di Indonesia

An abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the article; it allows readers to survey the contents of an article quickly and, like a title, it enables persons interested in the document to retrieve it from abstracting and indexing databases. Most scholarly journals require an abstract. Consult the instructions to authors or web page of the journal to which you plan to submit your article for any journal-specific instructions. A well-prepared abstract can be the most important single paragraph in an article. Most people have their first contact with an article by seeing just the abstract, usually in comparison with several other abstracts, as they are doing a literature search. Readers frequently decide on the basis of the abstract whether to read the entire article. The abstract needs to be dense with information. By embedding key words in your abstract, you enhance the user's ability to find it. Do not exceed the abstract word limit of the journal to which you are submitting your article. Word limits vary from journal to journal and typically range from 100 to 150 words.

Does visualisation help or hinder concrete word processing?

In an iconicity judgement task, participants were asked whether word pairs were iconic (e.g., nose–tongue; joy–sorrow) or reverse-iconic (e.g., tongue–nose; sorrow–joy), and an advantage for abstract word pairs (i.e., joy–sorrow) was found. Malhi and Buchanan proposed that this reverse concreteness, or abstractness, effect was the result of participants taking a visualisation/imagining (time-costly) approach towards the concrete word pairs and an emotional/intuitive (time-efficient) approach towards the abstract word pairs. This study tested this proposal by asking participants questions about strategy use (Experiment 1). In the forced-choice questions, all participants reported using a visualisation/imagining approach towards the concrete word pairs and most participants reported using an emotional/intuitive approach towards the abstract word pairs. In the open-ended responses, visual-spatial reasoning and real-life experience emerged as themes for the concrete word pairs and social norms and values emerged as themes for the abstract word pairs, adding to our understanding of the grounding of abstract words. In Experiment 2, participants were supplied with pictures as an aid to visualisation with the expectation that this would reduce the time required for concrete word processing. Supplying pictures made participants faster and more accurate at completing the task. Experiment 3 manipulated the type of visual aid by also supplying pictures that did not match the orientation of the word pairs. Participants were only more accurate when the pictures were in the correct and iconic spatial arrangement. A flexible abstractness and concreteness effects (FACE) theory is proposed which integrates symbolic and embodied accounts and introduces constructs such as direct and constrained imageability for concrete words and indirect and free imageability for abstract words.

Hard Words

This paper suggests that the chief limiting factor in acquiring a vocabulary of natural languages consists not in overcoming conceptual difficulties with abstract word meanings, but rather in mapping these meanings onto their corresponding lexical forms. We describe an overlapping series of steps through which novices move in representing the lexical forms and phrase structures of the exposure language, a probabilistic multiple-cue learning process known as syntactic bootstrapping.