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This project takes up the intersection of medium and content as a place where they can radically reconfigure one another. The entire process is a sort of unlearning; the habitual use of paper is disrupted. Physicality and meaning merge and emerge. Readers' doings interact and transform both the meaning and background - the content (meaning) that traditionally would be simply re-presented via sheets of paper (background). Troubling just a small, habitual action leads to remarkably different modes of knowing and being. Action, object, meaning, reader and author (re)form tentative self-altering assemblages. These assemblages spiral out in new directions, moving beyond the confines of authorial intent. (Re)new(ed) configurations of self, meaning and object spring forth, opening themselves to different vectors. In order to explore these possibilities, I ask that you print out this article double-sided and cut/fold/etc. as instructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the construction of "Indian literature" as an object of enquiry in William Jones's essays in the Asiatic Researches (1788-1794). In the first section it studies Jones's method of employing the nation as a frame of reference in geographical and cultural terms in order to construct a "national" literature for India. Extending the scope of his comparative philology, the second section argues that Jones sought to establish an equivalence between diverse literary traditions such as the Indo-Persian and the European, for the benefit of his European readership. The paper concludes by exploring the role of what Bernard Cohn terms the "enumerative modality" as a specific method of investigation through which the Asiatic Researches classifies and thus defines India's diverse and multitudinous literatures. Being informed by colonial discourse studies as well as periodicals research, this paper focuses on the rhetorical construction of the widely accepted nexus between Orientalism and British imperialism in late eighteenth-century India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thee concept of semantic tagging and its potential for semantic enhancements to taxonomic papers is outlined and illustrated by four exemplar papers published in the present issue of ZooKeys. Thee four papers were created in different ways: (i) written in Microsoft Word and submitted as non-tagged manuscript (doi: 10.3897/zookeys.50.504); (ii) generated from Scratchpads and submitted as XML-tagged manuscripts (doi: 10.3897/zookeys.50.505 and doi: 10.3897/zookeys.50.506); (iii) generated from an author's database (doi: 10.3897/zookeys.50.485) and submitted as XML-tagged manuscript. XML tagging and semantic enhancements were implemented during the editorial process of ZooKeys using the Pensoft Mark Up Tool (PMT), specially designed for this purpose. Thee XML schema used was TaxPub, an extension to the Document Type Definitions (DTD) of the US National Library of Medicine Journal Archiving and Interchange Tag Suite (NLM). Thee following innovative methods of tagging, layout, publishing and disseminating the content were tested and implemented within the ZooKeys editorial workflow: (1) highly automated, fine-grained XML tagging based on TaxPub; (2) final XML output of the paper validated against the NLM DTD for archiving in PubMedCentral; (3) bibliographic metadata embedded in the PDF through XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform); (4) PDF uploaded after publication to the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL); (5) taxon treatments supplied through XML to Plazi; (6) semantically enhanced HTML version of the paper encompassing numerous internal and external links and linkouts, such as: (i) vizualisation of main tag elements within the text (e.g., taxon names, taxon treatments, localities, etc.); (ii) internal cross-linking between paper sections, citations, references, tables, and figures; (iii) mapping of localities listed in the whole paper or within separate taxon treatments; (v) taxon names autotagged, dynamically mapped and linked through the Pensoft Taxon Profile (PTP) to large international database services and indexers such as Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), Barcode of Life (BOLD), Encyclopedia of Life (EOL), ZooBank, Wikipedia, Wikispecies, Wikimedia, and others; (vi) GenBank accession numbers autotagged and linked to NCBI; (vii) external links of taxon names to references in PubMed, Google Scholar, Biodiversity Heritage Library and other sources. With the launching of the working example, ZooKeys becomes the first taxonomic journal to provide a complete XML-based editorial, publication and dissemination workflow implemented as a routine and cost-efficient practice. It is anticipated that XML-based workflow will also soon be implemented in botany through PhytoKeys, a forthcoming partner journal of ZooKeys. Thee semantic markup and enhancements are expected to greatly extend and accelerate the way taxonomic information is published, disseminated and used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an empirical study of how different wh-words behave in English speakers L2 Chinese wh-questions. Our results indicate that L2 Chinese wh-questions are specified by the Chinese wh-particle ne and that there is neither variability nor L1 transfer in this aspect of L2 grammars as no wh-movement is found in English speakers L2 Chinese. However, wh-words do not develop in a uniform fashion and different wh-words behave differently both synchronically and developmentally in English speakers L2 Chinese. There is evidence for both temporary variability and persistent variability in some aspects of English speakers L2 Chinese wh-questions. This is believed to result from breakdowns at the lexical morphology–syntax interface and morphosyntax–semantics interface levels in L2 Chinese grammars. We will provide an account for the no variability, temporary variability as well as persistent variability in English speakers L2 Chinese wh-questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  This paper presents a novel proof-theoretic account of dialogue coherence. It focuses on an abstract class of cooperative information-oriented dialogues and describes how their structure can be accounted for in terms of a multi-agent hybrid inference system that combines natural deduction with information transfer and observation. We show how certain dialogue structures arise out of the interplay between the inferential roles of logical connectives (i.e., sentence semantics), a rule for transferring information between agents, and a rule for information flow between agents and their environment. The order of explanation is opposite in direction to that adopted in game-theoretic semantics, where sentence semantics (or a notion of valid inference) is derived from winning dialogue strategies. That approach and the current one may, however, be reconcilable, since we focus on cooperative dialogue, whereas the game-theoretic tradition concentrates on adversarial dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Alustath is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study investigates negative simple sentences and negation structures in English and Albanian, two Indo-European languages with both similar and distinct linguistic backgrounds and syntactic features. The study sets out with two primary hypotheses. Firstly, negative simple sentences in English and Albanian have similar word order, but there are some differences regarding the particle location in some sentences due to their distinct syntactic and grammatical features. Secondly, the syntax of negation in both languages reflects unique language-specific characteristics. The objectives of this study encompass an analysis of word order patterns, negative particle usage, sentence structure and semantics. Through comparative analysis, this research aims to shed light on the aspects of negation in these languages. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the differences and similarities in negation structures, i.e., negative sentences, in English and Albanian language. The analysis confirms the presence of distinct word order patterns in some sentences in English and Albanian language. These differences align with the broader word order tendencies observed in each language. Secondly, the study reveals variations in negative particle usage. English primarily employs a single particle ('not') and on different occasions ('no'), while Albanian utilizes both a pre-verbal particle ('nuk') and particles like 's'', 'jo', 'mos', etc. which are used to convey negative meaning. Other words with negative meaning are also analyzed in this paper. Another difference is the use of double negative in Albanian, a phenomenon not normally present in English language. These differences contribute to the richness and complexity of negation structures in Albanian. This research highlights the interaction between negation and the types of negation in sentences translated from English to Albanian and vice versa, and if different negation types affect word order in translated sentences. It also explores the semantics of negation, emphasizing mutual semantic effects while discovering differences that contribute to distinctions in meaning. In conclusion, this brief study advances our understanding of negation structures in English and Albanian, providing valuable insights into the syntax and semantics of negation in these languages. These findings contribute to the broader field of comparative linguistics and give insight into the nature of negation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linguistics as a discipline only began to consider signed languages as legitimate, fully fledged linguistic systems from the 1960s onwards. However, comparative work on signed and spoken languages made so far has struggled to draw on similar methodologies. In this paper, we seek to fill in this gap by presenting a recently built set of multilingual corpora, allowing scholars to conduct comparative studies on French Belgian Sign Language (lsfb), and its ambient spoken language, Belgian French. This paper outlines the theoretical developments which have led to the creation of these corpora, highlighting two breakthroughs in the understanding of human communicative practices (i.e., the emergence of signed language linguistics and the development of comparative semiotics). We show that combining these recent theoretical insights with the new methodological tools holds potential for future research avenues that could broaden and improve our understanding of language use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the semantics of bare singulars in Turkish, which are unmarked for number in form, as in English, but can behave like both singular and plural terms, unlike in English. While they behave like singular terms as case-marked arguments, they are interpreted number neutrally in non-case-marked argument positions, the existential copular construction, and the predicate position. Previous accounts (Bliss, in Calgary Papers in Linguistics 25:1–65, 2004; Bale et al. in Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) 20:1–15, 2010; Görgülü, in: Semantics of nouns and the specification of number in Turkish, Ph.d. thesis, Simon Fraser University, 2012) propose that Turkish bare singulars denote number neutral sets and that morphologically plural marked nouns denote sets of pluralities only. This approach leads to a symmetric correlation of morphological and semantic (un)markedness. However, in this paper, I defend a strict singular view for bare singulars and show that Turkish actually patterns with English where this correlation is exhibited asymmetrically. I claim that bare singulars in Turkish denote atomic properties and that bare plurals have a number neutral semantics as standardly assumed for English. I argue that the apparent number neutrality of bare singulars in the three cases arises via singular kind reference, which I show to extend to the phenomenon called pseudo-incorporation and a construction that I call kind specification. I argue that pseudo-incorporation occurs in non-case-marked argument positions following Öztürk (Case, referentiality, and phrase structure, Amsterdam, Benjamins, Publishing Company, 2005) and the existential copular construction, whereas kind specification is realized in the predicate position. The different behaviors of bare singulars in Turkish and English stem from the fact that singular kind reference is used more extensively in Turkish than in English. Furthermore, while there are well-known asymmetries between singular and plural kind reference cross-linguistically, Turkish manifests a more restricted distribution for bare plurals than English in the positions where pseudo-incorporation and kind specification are in evidence. I explain this as a blocking effect, specific to Turkish, by singular kind terms on plural kind terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jinghpaw is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in northern Burma and adjacent areas of China and India. The language is known for both its conservative nature (e.g., comparative Tibeto-Burman linguistics) and the innovative nature of its speakers (e.g., social anthropology of highland Burma). In view of this duality, this paper explores the Jinghpaw lexicon asking whether it is conservative enough to shed great light on the reconstruction of the proto-language or whether it is innovative, having undergone a grand-scale lexical replacement under intensive contact. This paper addresses this question by measuring the lexical borrowing rate in the language based on the methodology laid out by the Loanword Typology (LWT) project. The results put Jinghpaw among average borrower languages in terms of the borrowability scale of the world's languages. This study concludes that the Jinghpaw lexicon, especially its basic vocabulary, is relatively conservative, and the semantic fields affected by borrowing are mostly restricted to those that show high cross-linguistic susceptibility to intercultural influences. The results and discussion in this paper enable further understanding of comparative Tibeto-Burman linguistics and contact linguistics of northern Burma and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last two decades have seen much attention paid to the structure of the adpositional phrase (PP) in theoretical morphosyntax. The papers by Pretorius and Real-Puigdollers probe the structural make-up of spatial adpositions, adopting this time a more universalist approach - not wholly, though, in the case of Real-Puigdollers. Like Pretorius, Real-Puigdollers selects three types of spatial elements - all of which are instantiated by a limited number of lexical items - for closer inspection: (i) spatial deictic adverbials, (ii) simple locative prepositions, and (iii) complex locative prepositions, which manifest in three systematically distinct ways. Appealing to a range of Romance data, Real-Puigdollers shows that deictic adverbials consistently feature a (potentially covert) prepositional element, which exhibits sensitivity to the boundedness of the Ground: in Catalan, for example, I a i "at" marks bounded deictic adverbials, while I en i "in" marks their unbounded counterparts. [Extracted from the article]

no abstract available [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yoruba and French languages are so rich in the use of idiomatic expressions which lend themselves easily in the hands of those who know the two languages, through limitless improvisation of idiomatic expressions. In friendly, family and societal conversations, idiomatic expressions occupy a unique place. Their importance cannot be over emphasized as they add beauty to the speeches that employ them and provide knowledge and wisdom for better and clear understanding of the messages being projected. This paper therefore, examines idiomatic expressions in both languages at different fora. The paper hinges on Cognitive Linguistics which claims that idiomatic expression, which is motivated by metaphor, is not merely a figure of speech, but a specific mental and neutral mapping that influences a good deal of how people think, reason and imagine in everyday life. It was complemented with Conceptual Metaphor Theory which postulates that human thought process are largely metaphorical, and human conceptual system is structured and defined in a metaphorical way. The examples of Yoruba idiomatic expressions used in the paper were taken from two authentic Yoruba text books; Yoruba idioms by M.A. Fabunmi and Asayan Akanlo Ede Yoruba by Ademola Olopade while French idiomatic expressions were taken from Dictionnaire Des Expressions Et Locutions, second edition by Allain Ray et Sophie Chantreau. Our findings reveal that, the idiomatic expressions in both languages have similar characteristics, similar functions and at times have mutual equivalence. Also idioms in both languages can have the same word patterns but different lexical items due to different cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper introduces a Special Issue of Interaction Studies which includes 21 papers based on presentations and discussion at a workshop entitled “How the Brain Got Language: Towards a New Road Map.” Unifying themes include the comparative study of brain, behavior and communication in monkeys, apes and humans, and an EvoDevoSocio framework for approaching biological and cultural evolution within a shared perspective. The final article of the special issue builds on the previous papers to present “The Comparative Neuroprimatology 2018 (CNP-2018) Road Map for Research on How the Brain Got Language.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the variation in information structure of Estonian -des, -mata and -maks constructions, and analyzes the factors influencing this variation. The paper describes information structure via the categories of information status and information role. Information status, which refers to the general pragmatic status of a linguistic unit, has two possible values: an information unit or an element of an information unit. Information role refers to the pragmatic status of an element in the information structure of a larger information unit. Information role has five possible values: focus, background of the comment, topic, frame or prominent element. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis, this article gives an account of the variation in the information status and information role of Estonian converb constructions. In addition, this paper discusses the way in which the relevant explanatory variables relate to the information status and role of converb constructions. This analysis gives an overview of how the information status of converb constructions relates to the presence of punctuation, the position of the converb construction relative to the main clause, the number of words in the converb construction, the semantic function of the converb construction, the position of the converb within the construction, the morphological form of the converb, and the number of modifiers of the converb. This analysis also discusses how the information role of converb constructions relates to the position and semantic function of the construction and the presence of a lexicogrammatical prominence marker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inference is usually defined as a speaker's personal but indirect evidence that is based on something that the speaker can directly witness (such as the result of an event), while assumption is based on something such as the speaker's general knowledge of the world. This paper is concerned with inference and assumption in light of the semantics of the Finnish inferential and assumptive adverbs näköjään (inference) and varmaan (assumption). These are examined by administering a questionnaire study. The discussed scenarios differ according to three factors: the presence or lack of visual or sensory evidence, the temporal relations between the evidence and the claim that is made, and the strength of the evidence. The results of the study clearly establish that inference and assumption are separate notions (coded by different adverbs) and that the (non-) observability of the evidence noted above explains only a part of the attested cases; in general, the use of the adverbs is determined by how reliable the speaker considers the evidence to be. As a consequence, this paper proposes new definitions based on the speakers' selection of the appropriate inferential/assumptive adverb based on how strongly they are willing to vouch for the truth value of their statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differences in language use and structures between signed and spoken languages have often been attributed to so-called language "modality." Indeed, this is derived from the conception that spoken languages resort to both the oral-aural channel of speech and the visual-kinesic channel of visible bodily action whereas signed languages only resort to the latter. This paper addresses the use of enactment, a depictive communicative strategy whereby language users imitate referents in signed and spoken languages. Reviewing comparative research on enactment, this paper highlights theoretical and methodological shortcomings in prior works. First, a broader set of causal explanations needs to be taken into account when interpreting differences between signing and speaking communities. A more comprehensive conceptual toolbox ensures that differences are not automatically attributed to modality. In particular, lessstudied factors of language diversity, like sociolinguistic and cultural ecologies, and how they interact with other factors should be considered. Second, diversity in enactment across signed and spoken languages is shown to be inadequately and insufficiently documented. It is argued that by comparing enactment across more diverse signing and speaking communities and using large, directly comparable corpora, solid analyses can be carried out, enabling a better understanding of how and why different communities use enactment in similar or different ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems & Applications is the property of Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems & Applications and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper presents the historical semantics approach as a method for social history. While usually understood either as a form of conceptual and intellectual history of ideas or as a subdiscipline of philology and digital humanities, the authors of this article use historical semantics to address the way historians read their sources. The approach is presented as a necessary extension of historical methodology: Historians need to distrust their own common sense, depart from presupposed analytical categories and concepts, and base their interpretative work on the emic vocabulary of the societies under examination and on the document(s) forming the material legacy of the past. By linking words to historical and potential situations of language use, the historical semantics approach reveals the social taxonomies and inherent power relations between the dominant and the dominated. The paper outlines the guiding principles and methodological implications of this approach before presenting four concise vignettes illustrating the analytical potential and methodological diversity of the approach based on concrete case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that there are three reasons why we should regard Wittgenstein's Tractatus as a forerunner of formal semantics: Wittgenstein is convinced that we can apply formal notions to natural languages, that the meaning of a sentence is to be explained in terms of its truth-conditions and that language is compositional. These claims are also defended against the following three objections. First, the formal semantics defines truth-conditions using the language-metalanguage distinction, while Wittgenstein doesn't. He relies on the picture theory, which is not a formal notion. Secondly, the formal semanticists' 'compositionality principle' presupposes that the truth-conditions of complex sentences should be understood in terms of the truth-conditions of elementary ones, whereas Wittgenstein applies the notion of truth-conditions only to complex sentences. And, finally, that differently from the formal semanticists, Wittgenstein doesn't envisage recursive rules for the combination of the semantic primitives. The claim of this paper is that the first objection can be overcome by relating the picture theory to the pre-Tractarian principle of bipolarity, the second by relying on the famous distinction between what a sentence says and what it shows and the third by acknowledging that Wittgenstein, differently from the formal semanticists, works with propositional logic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes remarks on the syntactic status of Gapless Relative Clauses (GRCs) in Mandarin Chinese and shows that the arguments for their complement status are not supported by the facts in Mandarin Chinese, as almost all the arguments for the complement clause analysis of GRCs, as presented in Huang (2016), could be argued to be evidence for the relative clause (RC) analysis of GRCs. The following RC recoverability hierarchy, Argument RC > Adjunct RC > GRC, is proposed to explain the contrasts discussed in Huang (2016) and this paper, and the relevant facts and differences could be accounted for if one assumes that the RCs further to the right in the hierarchy above are more difficult to be recovered than the RCs further to the left in the above hierarchy and should thus occur closer to the head noun. This paper demonstrates that GRCs are really RCs licensed by a covert semantic variable, and suggests that the gapless requirement on complement clauses be replaced by the following two conditions: (a) no syntactic gap or semantic variable exists in the relevant clause that is related to the head noun in question and (b) a semantic condition, to be specified in this paper, is necessary on the relationship between the clause in question and the modified head noun. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that functionalist metasemantic views, such as Conceptual Role Semantics and Interpretivism, face a Euthyphro challenge. The challenge, put roughly, is this: functionalist metasemantic views reverse the order of explanation. According to such views, representational mental states have the contents that they do partly because they play certain roles in our mental lives. According to an intuitive picture of the roles that representational mental states play in our mental lives, however, these states play the roles they do partly because they have the contents that they do. Since explanations—even partial ones—are asymmetric (call this principle 'the Euthyphro Principle'), we can't accept both this intuitive picture and a functionalist metasemantics. Hence, we should reject all versions of the latter. This paper can be seen as an attempt to better articulate an intuition that has been suggested in various forms in the literature. The paper proceeds as follows. First, it shows that functionalist metasemantic views imply certain 'partly because' claims. Second, it argues for the Euthyphro Principle. Third, it defends the intuitive picture of representational mental states and shows that it implies 'partly because' claims that conflict with those made by functionalist metasemantic views. Finally, it considers ways of relaxing the intuitive picture and finds them all wanting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary goal of this paper is to understand the information structure of right dislocation (RD). I report a variation in RD in Asian languages with regard to the information structural status of the right dislocated elements. The discussion focuses on Alasha, a Mongolic language spoken in Mongolia. Through a comparative perspective on right dislocation, I show that RD languages come in two types: one that allows focused elements to be right dislocated, and one that disallows focused elements to be right dislocated. I argue that Alasha belongs to the former type, and I propose a bi-clausal analysis of Alasha RD, where Focus movement may occur in the second clause. Drawing on these findings, I further argue that the variation in RD is due to the parametric difference on the licensing condition of Focus Projection in Asian languages. Ultimately, the findings of this paper strengthen a non-uniform approach to RD in natural languages in both syntactic structure and information structure, despite their surface similarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines semantic features and functions of free relative clauses with pronominal relativizers, represented in the Croatian Glagolitic folk medicine books from the 14th, 15th and 18th centuries. Prediction, projection and topicality are singled out as central conceptual and functional features of the expressions studied. The examples are interpreted from the aspect of construction grammar and the pragmatic aspect, and therefore a schematic representation of mental spaces forming the basis for the selected relative clauses has been constructed using the methodology presented in Dancygier and Sweetser (2005). The expressions studied are also viewed in the context of the titling function, as well as in the context of all relative clauses in the studied corpus and have therefore also been linked to the specific features of the text type and certain diachronic changes in their use have been observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Church in the World / Crkva u Svijetu is the property of University of Split, Catholic Faculty of Theology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Based on the "Unified Platform for Speech Acoustic Parameters of Chinese Minority Languages", this paper calculates and compares the acoustic distribution of vowels in Mongolian, Uyghur, and Ewenki and proposes a hypothesis that the relevance between the similarity of the acoustic distribution patterns of vowels and language closeness does exist. It indicates that the acoustic pattern implies clues of closeness and relevance among the three languages. The results demonstrate that, in terms of vowels, Mongolian and Ewenki are closely related. Both those languages and the Uyghur language are distant relatives, with only typological similarity. This paper provides a new perspective for the research methodology of language kindred. It proves that the comparison of acoustic pattern is of significance in studies in linguistics, linguistic typology, historical comparative linguistics, and anthropology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic essay scoring (AES) is an essential educational application in natural language processing. This automated process will alleviate the burden by increasing the reliability and consistency of the assessment. With the advances in text embedding libraries and neural network models, AES systems achieved good results in terms of accuracy. However, the actual goals still need to be attained, like embedding essays into vectors with cohesion and coherence, and providing student feedback is still challenging. In this paper, we proposed coherence‐based embedding of an essay into vectors using sentence‐Bidirectional Encoder Representation for Transformers. We trained these vectors on Long short‐term memory and bidirectional long short‐term memory to capture sentence connectivity with other sentences' semantics. We used two datasets: standard ASAP Kaggle and a domain‐specific dataset with almost 2500 responses from 650 students. Our model performed well on both datasets, with an average quadratic weighted kappa score of 0.76. Furthermore, we achieved good results compared to other prescribed models, and we also tested our model on adversarial responses of both datasets and observed decent outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whenever we read poetry or any literature from different ages, we notice that language changes with time, noticeable in Kashmiri literature from different times. Since considering the poetry of Shaikh–ul–Aalam (RA), the specimen of 14th-century Kashmiri literature, the Language of Shruks is perceived to be varied but still closer to our contemporary language, yet it demands an intense research study. The present work explores the lexical change, a Linguistic-based approach to the analysis of literature, specifically, poetry in Kashmiri language with special reference to kalam-e- Shaikh–ul–Aalam (RA) popularly known as Shruks. Lexical and semantic change technically describes a change in a word's usage or meaning and a generational advancement in people's preferences for particular words or phrases. Language changes most commonly occur through lexical changes, which are much more evident than other kinds of language change. Lexical change takes place at various levels hence diverse kinds of linguistic change the Kashmiri lexicon has undergone through the ages have been explored in this paper. Linguists claim that the lexicon is the most volatile part of language and most likely to undergo change due to superstate influence in a language contact situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing interpretations of Deut 20:19–20 concerning the clause kī hāʾādām ʿēṣ haśśādeh have failed to sufficiently explain the meaning of the law against felling food-bearing trees in times of war. I argue that ʾādām is not the generic Hebrew word “human,” but a rare masculine singular bi-form of the more common ʾădāmāh, “land.” Drawing on both comparative philology and Mesopotamian material about warfare practices, the paper also shows that understanding the equation as one between “land” (rather than humans) and trees better accounts for the law and its placement in its literary context. D distinguishes between far lands and near lands that will be part of the Israelites’ inheritance. If land is soon-to-be conquered, then food-bearing trees are valuable, not only for any immediate fruit, but also for the wealth that they promise in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I will try to outline the reasons why, in order to understand the life and the nature of meaning, the semiotic tradition has always thought that it was better not to separate semantics and pragmatics. I will first reconstruct the history of this idea, grounded in Pragmatism and in Structural Linguistics. Later, I will deal with its first formulation in A Theory of Semiotics by Umberto Eco. In the second part of the paper, I will work on the idea by Ferdinand de Saussure that meanings are values, that is, indeterminate entities whose identity is determined only through reciprocal determination. I will claim that this idea is the importation in linguistics of Leibniz's principles of the differential calculus. In the final part of the paper, I will apply this idea to the distinction between semantics and pragmatics, claiming that meanings are better understood through a theory of modes of existence. If we understand the differential nature of meaning, we can see that meanings live only through the using of the expressions and these variations contribute to offer stability within the transformations, without creating a stable object defined by its properties and endowed with an independent existence split from the relationships that define it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper looks into the history of linguo-cultural studies of phraseology within the Russian phraseological tradition as well as highlights some key peculiarities of their present development. The discussion dwells on the most important facts that characterize the specifics in terms of which the Russian thought has evolved from the 18th up to the 21st centuries in the understanding of phraseologisms as culture-dependent formations. The mainstream approaches engaged in the analysis of different ways of the 'culture - phraseology' interaction are outlined. The paper focuses more specifically on one of such approaches. It describes the major theoretical tenets elaborated within the linguoculturological approach to phraseology - an innovative area of investigation evolved in Russia at the end of the 20th century. Special attention is paid to the application of the linguoculturological principles of analyzing phraseologisms to the practice of dictionary-making. The specifics of representing the cultural information in 'The Large Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Language' is described in the given paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese Buddhist anthology Zimen jingxun (Admonitions to the Black-robed Monastics 緇門警訓), a compilation believed to have originated during the Song dynasty, constitutes a Chinese Buddhist anthology containing teachings from Buddhist masters and ethical principles intended for observance by monastics. This anthology has garnered scholarly attention due to the noteworthy nature of some of its components. However, there exists a dearth of comprehensive scholarly analyses in the English language, and the precise compilers of this anthology remain shrouded in ambiguity. Nevertheless, the Zimen jingxun has exerted a profound influence on the training of monastics in China, Japan, and Korea, and has emerged as a particularly influential work on Buddhist monastic education in the Korean context. Therefore, this paper functions as an initial effort to address this scholarly gap. Utilizing the methodologies of comparative philology and historical philology, this study undertakes an analysis and comparison of the original Zimen jingxun and its foundational counterpart, the Zilin baoxun, in addition to their subsequent amended and modified versions. The primary aim of this research is to deduce its compilers and the timeframe of its compilation by examining the existing content, prefaces, citations, and any discrepancies discernible in each rendition. Furthermore, it seeks to evaluate the importance and role of each version within the broader context of the Buddhist canon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the Chadic languages Bura, South Marghi, Hausa, and Guruntum show different stages of the assumed grammaticalization path from bi-clausal cleft structures to mono-clausal constructions for the expression of term focus. This development is characterized by several syntactic and semantic changes, i.e. the reinterpretation of the cleft copula into a focus marker, the loss of the exhaustive inference typically associated with clefts, as well as the loss of syntactic indicators of embedded structures. Based on a microvariational comparison of the four languages, the paper hypothesizes that clefts are diachronically abandoned in favour of mono-clausal focus structures. Résumé: Cet article fait valoir que les langues tchadiques Bura, South Marghi, Hausa et Guruntum montrent différentes étapes de grammaticalisation supposée, depuis des structures de clivées bi-clausale jusqu'aux constructions mono-clausales pour l'expression de la focalisation du terme. Ce développement est caractérisé par plusieurs changements syntaxiques et sémantiques, à savoir la réinterprétation de la copule de la clivée en marqueur de focalisation, la perte de l'inférence exhaustive typiquement associée aux clivées, ainsi que la perte d'indicateurs syntaxiques des structures enchassées. Sur la base d'une comparaison micro-variationnelle des quatre langues, l'article émet l'hypothèse que les clivées sont abandonnées diachroniquement au profit de structures focalisantes mono-clausales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Spelling acquisition requires the assimilation of the regularities of the writing system, but these regularities may differ between the native and a foreign language. English spelling acquisition is a challenge for Spanish‐speaking children due to differences in the orthographic systems. The aim of this study was to examine to what extent Spanish‐speaking children use sub‐lexical and lexical information when spelling in English as a foreign language (EFL), and whether this varies across grades. Methods: To achieve this, we administered a spelling‐to‐dictation task of monosyllabic words to children 9 to 11 years old. Spelling accuracy, written latencies, and writing durations were analysed as a function of phonology‐to‐orthography consistency, lexical frequency, word length, and the semantic knowledge that the children have of the words. Results: Results showed differences between grades, with word length only influencing younger children. Lexical frequency, consistency, and semantic knowledge facilitated performance in older children. The cumulative exposure to English may lead to an improvement in spelling due to vocabulary growth and increased sensitivity to new spelling patterns and regularities. Such development occurs despite differences between the orthographies of the native and foreign language and even in the absence of explicit instruction in EFL spelling. Conclusions: Semantic information about words helps spelling retrieval during writing in EFL. Spanish‐speaking children develop sensitivity to English orthography and spelling patterns, evident in the older group of children. Highlights: What is already known about this topic: Different linguistic variables, namely, lexical frequency, orthographic consistency, and word length, have an impact on spelling development.English spelling acquisition is a challenge for Spanish‐speaking children.Central and peripheral processes interact during handwriting. What this paper adds: Having semantic information about words facilitates spelling retrieval during writing in English as a foreign language.Spanish‐speaking children develop sensitivity to English spelling patterns, evident in older children.Nucleus and coda are the most demanding sub‐syllabic elements for Spanish‐speaking children when spelling in English.The effect of central (linguistic) processes on handwriting performance varies with age. Implications for theory, policy, or practice: English teachers should encourage English lexical–semantic development in Spanish‐speaking children from the earliest grades of exposure to English as a foreign language.Receiving instruction in the use of grain size units larger than phoneme–grapheme would be very helpful in learning to spell in a foreign language.Teachers should consider a systematic and explicit approach to teaching English orthographic regularities, by including this objective in their lessons.Interactions between linguistic and motor aspects of writing need to be considered during teaching and assessment of the written products of children writing in English as an additional language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question whether a constitutive linguistic norm can be prescriptive is central to the debate on the normativity of meaning. Recently, the author has attempted to defend an affirmative answer, pointing to how speakers sporadically invoke constitutive linguistic norms in the service of linguistic calibration. Such invocations are clearly prescriptive. However, they are only appropriate if the invoked norms are applicable to the addressed speaker. But that can only be the case if the speaker herself generally accepts them. This qualification has led critics to argue that if an addressed speaker's acceptance is a necessary condition for legitimate prescriptions (and reproach for failure to adhere to them), then the account becomes unable to underwrite actual normativity. Moreover, critics argue, a danger of vicious circularity arises from the calibration account. This paper shows that once a vantage point within the calibration practice is accepted, the criticisms lose their force. It then explores why a theorist might reject such a perspective and suggests, as a plausible candidate, implicit Humean assumptions about the proper explanation of (linguistic) action. The paper ends by sketching a way forward for the debate on the normativity of meaning in light of this diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]