The Taxonomy of Writing Systems: How to Measure how Logographic a System is

Taxonomies of writing systems since Gelb (1952) have classified systems based on what the written symbols represent: if they represent words or morphemes, they are logographic; if syllables, syllabic; if segments, alphabetic; etc. Sproat (2000) and Rogers (2005) broke with tradition by splitting the logographic and phonographic aspects into two dimensions, with logography being graded rather than a categorical distinction. A system could be syllabic, and highly logographic; or alphabetic, and mostly non-logographic. This accords better with how writing systems actually work, but neither author proposed a method for measuring logography. In this article we propose a novel measure of the degree of logography that uses an attention based sequence-to-sequence model trained to predict the spelling of a token from its pronunciation in context. In an ideal phonographic system, the model should need to attend to only the current token in order to compute how to spell it, and this would show in the attention matrix activations. In contrast, with a logographic system, where a given pronunciation might correspond to several different spellings, the model would need to attend to a broader context. The ratio of the activation outside the token and the total activation forms the basis of our measure. We compare this with a simple lexical measure, and an entropic measure, as well as several other neural models, and argue that on balance our attention-based measure accords best with intuition about how logographic various systems are. Our work provides the first quantifiable measure of the notion of logography that accords with linguistic intuition and, we argue, provides better insight into what this notion means.

TRANSPOSITION AT THE LEVEL OF LEXICO-GRAMMATIC DISCHARGES INSIDE PARTS OF SPEECH

Термин «транспозиция» в особенности последних десятилетий неуклонно движется по пути расширения своего пространства. Несмотря на дискуссии о ее границах, актуальным становится изучение взаимодействия грамматической единицы со средой, проблема языковой памяти и языковой интуиции, сопоставление языковой игры и языкового эксперимента, сознательного и бессознательного в потреблении. Высокий уровень развития грамматической теории в современной лингвистике позволил вплотную подойти к лексико-грамматическим разрядом на уровне транспозиции. The term «transposition», especially in recent decades, has been steadily moving along the path of expanding its space. Despite the discussions about its boundaries, the study of the interaction of the grammatical unit with the environment, the problem of linguistic memory and linguistic intuition, the comparison of a linguistic game and a linguistic experiment, conscious and unconscious in consumption, becomes relevant. The high level of development of grammatical theory in modern linguistics made it possible to come close to the lexical and grammatical category at the level of transposition. «Transpozitsiya» atamasi, ayniqsaso’nggio’nyilliklarda, o’zmakoninikengaytirishyo’lidabarqaror harakat qilmoqda. Uningchegaralarihaqidagimunozaralargaqaramay, grammatikbirlikningatrof-muhitbilano’zarota’sirinio’rganish, lingvistikxotiravalingvistiksezgimuammosi, lingvistiko’yinvalingvistikeksperimentniongliravishdavaqo’llanilishdaongsizravishdataqqoslashdolzarbbo’libqoladi. Zamonaviytilshunoslikdagrammatiknazariyaningyuqoridarajadarivojlanganligitranspozitsiyadarajasidaleksikvagrammatiktoifagayaqinlashishgaimkonberdi.

Regulacyjna funkcja intuicji językowej w rozwijaniu podsystemu leksykalno-semantycznego: test wnioskowania znaczeń w limitowanym czasie

The paper emphasizes the role of linguistic intuition in current L2 processing. Intuition, as a mental disposition operating in implicit systems, is in close correlation with working memory. It infers quick, almost immediate meaning of un unknown word which appears in a context. Linguistic intuition has a regulatory function, i.e. it allows to continue language activities and overcome linguistic deficits. In the second part, Timed inference test as a tool for developing and testing vocabulary is proposed as well as the results of the empirical study on intuitive behaviour in L2. The results of the study show that inference of word’s meaning under time constraint is lower that the results of inference without time pressure. The study involves a group of 102 students of French as a foreign language at B1 level.

Семантические особенности цветообозначения улан ‘красный’ в калмыцком языке и способы его перевода на немецкий язык (на примере калмыцких сказок в записи Г. Й. Рамстедта)

Introduction. Color terms constitute a most archaic lexical stratum of any language. Being characterized by vivid ethnocultural specifics, those serve as important elements to the linguistic view of the world. Goals. The paper seeks to analyze semantic features of the Kalmyk color term улан ‘red’ and its German translation equivalents. Materials and Methods. The work explores Kalmyk folktales recorded by the Finnish scholar G. J. Ramstedt during his 1903 scientific expedition to the Kalmyk Steppe. The analysis of the color term comprises both general research methods and specifically linguoculturological ones, such as linguoculturological and conceptual insights into folklore texts. Results. Impacts of color in world perception of the Kalmyks — just as for any other nation — are diverse enough. The folktale texts recorded by G. J. Ramstedt contain a total of five shades of the color, the lexeme улан ‘red’ being largely characterized by positive semantics. German translation variants are not always complete semantic equivalents of the color term which results from that color denoting lexemes — and those of red in particular — are integral to a certain ethnic worldview, this leading to some ambivalence of the color under study. Conclusions. The lexeme улан ‘red’ in its first nominative meaning denotes a color of an object, e.g., red proper, scarlet, ruddy, etc. In the Kalmyk language, it also serves to denote the prototypic color of blood and is often used to describe animal coat colors. The Finnish scholar employed different German translation means. In most cases, the selection of translation equivalents depends on the translator’s associative/visual thinking and perception of the world, as well as on lexical, semantic and morphological patterns of Kalmyk and German. Folklore texts are structured specifically, and a translator needs utmost attention and linguistic intuition to avoid any inaccuracies when communicating a color paradigm from the original text. The challenge be tackled by a translator of color terms in a folklore text is that he/she is supposed to bear both the linguocultures examined.

LINGUISTIC ABILITIES FOR MASTERING FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN STUDENT TRANSLATORS WITHIN SIOP MODEL

The purpose of the paper is to identify linguistic abilities to master foreign languages in students-translators. This research was conducted based on the methods and methodology of observation, comparison, analysis, functional and descriptive methods. In order to solve this problem, the achievements of linguistics, sociolinguistics, psychology, psycholinguistics, methods of teaching foreign languages were analyzed, as the study of the phenomenon of linguistics ability is based on them. Linguistic ability includes some specific abilities such as foreign language ability, language guessing, language intuition and communication skills. The result is the formation of a linguistic personality, in particular, the bilingual personality of the translator in a dialogue that has the ability and skills to use the language in all its manifestations in different situations of intercultural communication; the ability to understand and assimilate someone else's way of life and behavior in order to break ingrained stereotypes; skills to expand the individual picture of the world by involving in the "language picture of the world" speakers of the studied language. Value/originality. The development of language abilities is possible on the basis of individualization, differentiation of the learning process and increasing motivation for learning a language. It is necessary to clarify that the presence of communication skills, linguistic intuition and ability to languages is absolutely not enough for a full-fledged foreign language communication, and even more so for characterizing a secondary linguistic personality, in fact, its development is the leading goal of teaching a foreign language for translation students. Linguistic giftedness and ability for languages are only a prerequisite for the formation of intercultural competence and the development of a secondary linguistic personality.

Lexicalization of the Motion Event Of “Going” in the Holy Quran

Motion is basic and universal concept and among the major life experiences of human beings. studies by Talmy marked the beginning of cognitive research into motion; he delineated the systematic relations among surface and deep structures and, based on the representation of the motion event, classified languages into two groups of satellite-framed and verb-framed. The present study examined the representation of the motion event in the verb “to go” via corpus-based analysis. The corpus comprised texts from the Holy Quran, consisting of 88 verbs extracted from114 Quranic verbs meaning “to go” after evaluating the surface structures used for concepts related to this verb of motion. In collecting said corpus, the verbs were extracted from Al-Maány website and, based on the author’s linguistic intuition with regard to the motion concept of going in the Quran, the relevant sample was collected and analyzed. This study aimed to examine manner- and path-lexicalization verbs, and the representation of information on manner and path based on the lexicalization patterns of Talmy, and eventually investigate the consistency between the results and Talmy’s theory about the classification of language in terms of motion representation. The results showed that, in the Quran, of 88 verbs of motion with the deep structure of “to go”, 22 cases lexicalized the path such as Zahaba (going), Araja (ascending),40 cases the manner such as Haraba (escaping) and Farra (running away), and 26 cases a combination of the two such as Jaraya (flowing down) and Jarra (pulling on the ground) representing both elements of manner and path in the verb stem. Of these, the highest frequency in the manner of motion belonged to transition motion (80 cases), while only 8 cases were of the rotatory type. Another result was the inconclusiveness of Talmy’s theory about the classifications of languages in terms of the motion concept of going.

Korpusy językowe jako narzędzie interpretacji prawa. Amerykańska teoria i praktyka

In American adjudicating practice and theory of statutory interpretation, great attention is paid to the notion of ordinary meaning of legal text. In order to determine the ordinary meaning, judges usually refer to their own linguistic intuition or dictionaries – both these methods give rise to a number of reservations that have been expressed in legal literature for years. In the last few years, courts have also started using linguistic corpora for this purpose. Linguistic corpora are electronic collections of authentic texts in a given language which can be analyzed using IT tools (e.g. searches, frequency lists, concordances, collocations). Corpus research requires considerable linguistic knowledge and technical skills, and in return it offers statistical data that can reveal a lot about the semantic layer of language. The use of corpora by judges – first in state courts, later also in the federal Supreme Court – sparked lively academic discussion. In Polish literature, this issue has not been discussed so far, which is why the article is essentially of a reporting nature. First, an outline of corpus linguistics is presented. Then the history of the use of linguistic corpora by US courts is reconstructed. Finally, the legal discussion about corpora in the US is presented, with particular emphasis on voices approving their use and on critical voices.

Advertising Genres in the Lessons of Rhetoric: from Analysis to Creation

The aim of this study was to substantiate what theoretical knowledge in the field of advertising should be taught, what criteria for the selection of advertising texts should be applied, how such practical training activities of students should be structured. The results of the study were obtained on the basis of teaching practice, literature analysis, interviews of students and teachers. It is shown that the awareness of the structure and linguistic features of advertisement is of great theoretical and practical importance for high-school students, correlating with the personal, metasubject and subject outcomes of mastering the curriculum. Knowledge in the field of advertising genres and assignments aimed at analysis of advertising texts foster students’ ability to distinguish between direct and indirect methods of persuasion, as well as to identify language tools that structure different advertising genres. It is concluded that the development of students’ knowledge about the functions and structure of advertising texts, genre varieties and speech persuasion techniques develops linguistic intuition, the ability to select compositional elements and language tools that are significant for the advertising genres.

Pragmatic potential of onomatopoeia in animated movies for children

This paper reflects the results of the investigation into pragmatic potential of onomatopoeia as a part of children’s movies. The enquiry into this subject was conducted within the framework of the project devoted to the evolution and functioning of language within films for children. The paper includes the analysis of onomatopoeia through language development aspects, stylistic and pragmatic analysis. In this regard our attention is focused on the semantic, pragmatic and linguistic characteristics of onomatopoeia. It has been suggested that the onomatopoeia performs different functions within the children’s movies acting as a strong expressive component, reflecting the level of speech development, conveying emotions, describing nature, supporting musical mood in songs, attracts child’s attention to the most important character or event, forming new hybrid words to convey extra connotations, participating in wordplay such as pun or parody, developing mental activity, linguistic intuition and social communicative skills. Keywords: Onomatopoeia, language development, pragmatic potential, semantic and functional feature, animated movies for children.

APPLYING CORPUS APPROACH AT THE ENGLISH CLASSES IN HIGHER EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS

The article describes the possible ways of applying the achievements of corpus linguistics in the ESL classroom at the HEIs. The notion of a language corpus was defined, a journey into the history of the first corpus creation was taken, and the most popular modern English-language corpora (British National Corpus, The Oxford English Corpus, COCA, etc.) were considered. The efficiency of applying the corpus method in teaching a foreign language in higher education has been proven. Thus, the use of corpora in students' work along with the inductive method contributes to their understanding of the basic linguistic patterns and the development of linguistic intuition, the material of the study being exclusively authentic texts. The possibility of using direct and indirect corpus approach to assist the formation of students' lexical, grammatical, stylistic and phonetic skills has also been studied. The direct applying this method may include teaching corpus linguistics to university students as a purely academic subject, performing certain tasks or exercises using concordance programs and performing individual research projects by students. And the indirect corpus approach can include publishing links, developing materials and language testing. The article provides information on special software that enables one to carry out corpus training and analyzes the main types of tasks that can be created using these programs. Finally, the article discusses the reasons for the unpopularity of the corpus method in the Ukrainian HEIs at the present stage of education and justifies the appropriateness of its wider use in the future academic environment.