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The "Authority Problem" is the problem that arises when speakers who lack authority successfully perform speech acts that require speaker authority in order to be felicitous. One solution that has been offered to the Authority Problem holds that the non-authoritative speaker of a successful authoritative illocution comes to have authority through a process of presupposition accommodation. I call this solution the Authority Accommodation Analysis, or AAA. In this paper, I argue that there is no Authority Problem, and thus, no need for an AAA. The appearance of the problem relies on a conflation between the felicity of speech acts and their success. Yet a speech act can be successfully performed even in the absence of felicity. While authority is often a felicity condition for certain speech acts, I argue that it need not be a success condition. Ultimately, the consequence of my argument is that I must reject conventionalism about illocutionary success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speculations on the evolution of language have invoked comparisons across human and non-human primate communication. While there is widespread support for the claim that gesture plays a central, perhaps a predominant role in early language development and that gesture played the foundational role in language evolution, much empirical information does not accord with the gestural claims. The present study follows up on our prior work that challenged the gestural theory of language development with longitudinal data showing early speech-like vocalizations occurred more than 5 times as often as gestures in the first year of life. Now we bring longitudinal data on the second year (13, 16 and 20 mo), showing again that vocalizations predominated, and especially in conventional (learned) communication; > 9 times more spoken words were observed than gestures that could be viewed as functionally equivalent to words (i.e., signs). Our observations also showed that about ¾ of gestures across these second-year data were deictics (primarily pointing and reaching), acts that while significant in supporting the establishment of referential vocabulary in both spoken and signed languages, are not signs, but have single universal deictic functions in the here and now. In contrast, words and signs, the primary semantic components of spoken and signed languages, are functionally flexible, making possible reference to abstractions that are not bound to any particular illocutionary force nor to the here and now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L2 (second language) grit, an essential personal resource involving perseverance of effort and consistency of interest, has been well documented via a variable-centred method. The current study employed latent profile analysis (LPA), a person-centred approach, to identify the potential profiles of L2 grit, moving beyond previous studies by recognizing student heterogeneity. Drawing on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study also examined the relationship between L2 grit, foreign language anxiety, and achievement within the identified profiles of L2 grit. Three profiles of L2 grit were disclosed, namely, “medium effort and interest”, “great effort but weak interest”, and “great effort and interest”. The facilitative function of foreign language anxiety on achievement was realised only for those within the “great effort and interest” profile, which was interpreted as the optimal configuration of personal resources from the lens of COR theory. This study generated insights for future studies on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tabayyun is the property of Arab Center for Research & Policy Studies 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.)

Objective: This study proposes an emotion correlation-enhanced sentiment analysis model (ECO-SAM), a sentiment correlation modeling-based multi-label sentiment analysis model. Methods: The ECO-SAM utilizes a pre-trained BERT encoder to obtain semantic embedding of input texts and then leverages a self-attention mechanism to model the semantic correlation between emotions. Additionally, it utilizes a text emotion matching neural network to make sentiment analysis for input texts. Results: The experiment results in public datasets demonstrate that compared to baseline models, the ECO-SAM obtains the precision score increasing by 13.33% at most, the recall score increasing by 3.69% at most, and the F1 score increasing by 8.44% at most. Meanwhile, the modeled sentiment semantics are interpretable. Limitations: The data modeled by the ECO-SAM are limited to text-only modality, excluding multi-modal data that could enhance classification performance. Additionally, the training data are not large-scale, and there is a lack of high-quality large-scale training data for fine-tuning sentiment analysis models. Conclusion: The ECO-SAM is capable of effectively modeling sentiment semantics and achieving excellent classification performance in many public sentiment analysis datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews Ryan Nefdt's book "Language, Science, and Structure," which defends a structuralist view of languages and linguistic entities. Nefdt's book covers topics such as ontology, theory change, information structure, and the relationship between linguistics and cognitive science. The review highlights Nefdt's contribution to the ontology of language and the philosophy of linguistics, emphasizing the need to move beyond traditional views and engage with a broader range of issues in the field. The book is recommended for those interested in the philosophical foundations of language. [Extracted from the article]

The article "NOTES ON A THEORY OF LANGUAGE IN THE SPACE OF THE POEM: CABE LA FORMA (2021) BY MARIO MONTALBETTI" from the magazine "Alpha: Journal of Arts, Letters, and Philosophy" analyzes Mario Montalbetti's theory of poetic language. Montalbetti proposes that the poem is a space where language reflects on its limits and possibilities, breaking with everyday communication and semantic closure. Through his poems, Montalbetti invites us to think beyond semantics and explore the relationship between signifiers and meanings in constant motion. His poetry is presented as a tool of thought that challenges linguistic conventions and seeks truth in the indeterminacy of language. [Extracted from the article]

The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of use of keywords in master's theses in the field of teaching Turkish to foreigners. The sample of the study consists of 236 master's theses published in YÖK National Thesis Centre between 2022-2024. As a result of the study, 557 keywords were identified in the theses. The total frequency of use of these keywords is 1018. These identified keywords were categorised according to subject headings based on the topics in the literature. These titles are; linguistics, language teaching, Turkish teaching in the world and in Turkey, language skills, listening skills, speaking skills, reading skills, writing skills, vocabulary teaching, grammar teaching, culture teaching, language teaching methods and techniques, language teaching theories, Turkish as a foreign language teaching programme, use of materials and technological tools in teaching Turkish as a foreign language, competences of Turkish instructors, competences of foreign students, studies in the literature, measurement and evaluation. At the end of the research, it was determined that the most frequently used keywords in the literature were respectively the use of materials and technological tools in teaching Turkish as a foreign language, reading skills, language teaching, culture teaching, vocabulary teaching and linguistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show how to efficiently enumerate a class of finite-memory stochastic processes using the causal representation of ϵ -machines. We characterize ϵ -machines in the language of automata theory and adapt a recent algorithm for generating accessible deterministic finite automata, pruning this over-large class down to that of ϵ -machines. As an application, we exactly enumerate topological ϵ -machines up to eight states and six-letter alphabets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer model has been extensively adopted to overcome the time limitation of language evolution by transforming language theory into physical modelling mechanism, which helps to explore the general laws of evolution. In this paper, a model is designed to simulate the evolution process of languages in human settlements, with the associated network topology being lattice. The language of each node in the lattice will evolve gradually under the influence of its own fixed evolutionary direction and neighbours. According to the computational experiment results, it is discovered that the state points of languages always converge into several clusters during the evolution process, which gives us an insight into language evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prediction error plays a pivotal role in theories of learning, including theories of language acquisition and use. Researchers have investigated whether and under which conditions children, like adults, use prediction to facilitate language comprehension at different levels of linguistic representation. However, many aspects of the reciprocal relation between prediction error and the development of language learning remain unclear. In this article, we review studies in language development that can inform us about the role of prediction error in updating, learning, and retrieving linguistic information. We argue that the study of individual differences in linguistic and cognitive skills will help the field understand more thoroughly whether, when, and why prediction aids language learning, and whether prediction error necessarily results in language learning and retrieval from memory. We close with a discussion of the needs and challenges for researchers to answer these questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most common understanding offiction is as a piece of literature that describes imaginary events and people, something invented and not true. In this sense, fiction can be explained and understood as standing in opposition to the reality. If we instead look at fiction from the perspective of biopoetics and cognitive theory, it becomes clear that it does not show a sharply defined opposition to reality. It is this fuzziness of boundaries between fiction and the real that we are concerned with in this article; our hypothesis includes the application of Blending Theory (BT) to outline the cognitive processes that sustain the conceptualisation of fictive narrative. Our article attempts to propose a model stemming from cognitive theories of language, that accounts for the underlying cognitive processes that constitute the complex meaning construction when dealing with fictive narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the place of thematic coherence in various approaches to educational dialogue and proposes a unifying approach to the analysis of thematic coherence of classroom conversations based on research in educational dialogue, philosophy of language and recent advances in linguistic research on discourse structure. Addressing the same main question is crucial to preserving thematic coherence in a conversation and is considered a key criterion of quality in classroom dialogues across the field of research in dialogic teaching, e.g., in Alexander's Dialogic Teaching, Michaels and colleagues' Accountable Talk, and Mercer's Interthinking. Nonetheless, a shared definition of thematic coherence is missing in the field. In order to provide such a conception, we propose a question centered approach to evaluating the thematic coherence of educational discourse. On this proposal, the thematic coherence of a conversation depends on how a conversational contribution relates to a conversation's overall question under discussion. We show how this approach may be used to examine thematic coherence and incoherence and argue that the proposal's focus on utterance level features of discourse has an advantage in helping researchers track how specific linguistic features of dialogue shape classroom conversations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stemmer's theory of language acquisition is an empiricist account of listener behavior learning based on ostensive processes similar to Pavlovian conditioning procedures. Even though it is not a strictly radical behaviorist theory, its formulation at the level of relations between stimuli and overt performance makes it suitable as a candidate to interpret recent experimental findings that use stimulus pairing procedures to investigate the learning of listener behavior. Stemmer describes stages that range from learning the meanings of words and complex sentences to processes that may be involved in learning new word meanings through their relations with other known words within verbal stimuli. Empirical evidences and limitations of the theory are described, and the case is made that this theory could be the source of a productive research program towards expanding behavior analytic accounts of listener behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The robust vocabularies acquired by neurotypical children are impossible to account for by direct instruction alone, and as such incidental acquisition must play a role. A variety of explanations for the source of this exponential language growth have been put forth by theorists across related disciplines. We provide our general reflections on interactions that exist among the possible sources of incidental language acquisition that have been put forth by both behavior-analytic and cognitive perspectives. We first consider the behavior-analytic perspectives of bidirectional naming (BiN), stimulus equivalence (SE), and relational frame theory (RFT). Next, we consider the cognitive perspective of fast mapping. We also provide comparisons between the behavior-analytic principle of exclusionary performance, and the cognitive principles of mutual exclusivity and the principle of contrast as additional sources for incidental acquisition of novel object–word labels and meanings. We reflect on points of contact and departure between these cross-disciplinary theories of human language and cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To prevent ordinary people from being harmed by natural language processing (NLP) technology, finding ways to measure the extent to which a language model is biased (e.g., regarding gender) has become an active area of research. One popular class of NLP bias measures are bias benchmark datasets—collections of test items that are meant to assess a language model's preference for stereotypical versus non-stereotypical language. In this paper, we argue that such bias benchmarks should be assessed with models from the psychometric framework of item response theory (IRT). Specifically, we tie an introduction to basic IRT concepts and models with a discussion of how they could be relevant to the evaluation, interpretation and improvement of bias benchmark datasets. Regarding evaluation, IRT provides us with methodological tools for assessing the quality of both individual test items (e.g., the extent to which an item can differentiate highly biased from less biased language models) as well as benchmarks as a whole (e.g., the extent to which the benchmark allows us to assess not only severe but also subtle levels of model bias). Through such diagnostic tools, the quality of benchmark datasets could be improved, for example by deleting or reworking poorly performing items. Finally, in regards to interpretation, we argue that IRT models' estimates for language model bias are conceptually superior to traditional accuracy-based evaluation metrics, as the former take into account more information than just whether or not a language model provided a biased response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For all of Brandom's self-professed allegiance to Hegel, there is something perplexing about his fixation on semantic and epistemological issues at the expense of the type of social and political considerations that are at the heart of Hegel's system. However, and although Brandom himself concedes that his work is circumscribed to a number of highly specialized and technical issues in the philosophy of mind and language, the truth is that his views often radiate to other philosophical fields, if not always explicitly. My claim in this article is that at the heart of Brandom's semantic theory, there are elements of a critical project, one that offers a normative standpoint to judge and improve our current practices. Moreover, these progressive features of Brandom's normative pragmatics should be seen in the light of his adoption of a series of hermeneutic themes, ultimately culminating in his recollective conception of rationality and his edifying view of semantics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the end of the 20th century, the Cartesian paradigm of identity has been the object of criticism, raised by different epistemological perspectives, including post-structuralism, feminism, constructionism, and philosophy of language studies. A common aspect of these new theoretical-epistemological perspectives is the search to overcome an idealistic, immaterial, vision of the psychological subject, emphasizing the concrete character of its subjective construction, and the anchoring of the whole process in corporeality. These new trends rediscover the body as a concept within the human and social sciences, especially, inspired by Michel Foucault's work. In Psychology, although the body has recently become an object of increasing interest for different perspectives, a theoretical gap concerning its political dimension, the power forces that cross through corporeity is still observed. This article draws, then, on Queer Theory's epistemological contributions to critical psychology and the construction of such a notion of embodied subjectivity within Cultural Semiotic Psychology, considering the sociocultural processes that operate in the construction of subjects. Additionally, we seek to provide arguments to refuse the understanding that social markers such as sex, gender, and race are mere variables associated with the human, and reinforce that subjects are constitutively sexed, gendered, and racialized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text discusses the English Institute's conference on Action in 2022, which was postponed twice due to Covid-19. The conference delves into the philosophical and literary perspectives on action, agency, and intentionality, with essays exploring the relationship between words and actions, the role of motives in actions, and the ethical implications of scholarly work. The essays also touch on the significance of literary narratives as forms of action and the challenges of defining and understanding action in various contexts. The text highlights diverse viewpoints on action, agency, and intentionality, inviting readers to reflect on the complexities of human behavior and the role of language in shaping our understanding of action. [Extracted from the article]

Monoids generated by elements of order two appear in numerous places in the literature. For example, Coxeter reflection groups in geometry, Kuratowski monoids in topology, various monoids generated by regular operations in language theory and so on. In order to initiate a classification of these monoids, we are interested in the subproblem of monoids, called strict Projection Involution Monoids (2-PIMs), generated by an involution and an idempotent. In this case we show, when the monoid is finite, that it is generated by a single equation (in addition to the two defining the involution and the idempotent). We then describe the exact possible forms of this equation and classify them. We recover Kuratowski's theorem as a special case of our study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any behavior humans can perform, they can be performed in an "ostensive" way, that is, overtly attracting attention and providing evidence of meaning. The communicative principle of relevance is a lawlike generalization about ostensive stimuli and hence about human communication. Here I present the principle as a pair of simple and general empirical statements: one on the audience side and one on the communicator side. I also summarize recent developments: Experimental tests have proved supportive, theoretical analyses have connected the principle to evolutionary and developmental perspectives, and the principle has been used more broadly than before, far beyond the traditional domains of semantics and pragmatics. These developments consolidate the communicative principle of relevance as fundamental to understanding human interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on self-identified Spanish-speaking early childhood educators' experiences with and views of bilingualism as they learned about translanguaging—a dynamic, liberatory, and culturally and linguistically sustaining theory and practice of language. Artifacts and conversations with teachers showed that, counter to many of their painful experiences with language and bilingualism, they believed in and cultivated an education of care, which often included creating translanguaging spaces where Spanish was both expected and highly valued. In turn, the teachers believed that their protection of and support for Spanish would serve as a foundation on which children and families could grow their bilingualism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review synthesizes the literature (involving 62 empirical studies) regarding the effectiveness of cognitive linguistics‐inspired language pedagogies (CL‐ILPs) on second language (L2) learning. It begins with an overview of the main theoretical tenets of cognitive linguistics followed by a description of the data selection, coding, and analysis. Then, besides noting a sharp increase of research on CL‐ILPs in the past 20 years, the review presents four main findings: (a) While various language features have been taught in CL‐ILPs, the teaching targets of CL‐ILPs have been mainly low‐schematic constructions, such as phrasal verbs and prepositions, but a few recent studies have explored the teaching of clause‐ or sentence‐level structures including conditional clauses, (b) conceptual metaphor, cognitive grammar, construction grammar, and cognitive semantics have been the main guiding cognitive linguistics theories applied in language teaching, and the hallmark teaching practices of CL‐ILPs include the use of technology‐supported or technology‐delivered visuals, schemas, and diagrams; embodied activities; and group and/or pair work, (c) methodologies used in CL‐ILP research have become increasingly sophisticated, and (d) CL‐ILPs have been found to be effective in 93.5% (i.e., 58) of the 62 reviewed studies covering learners of different age groups, first languages, and learning contexts. These findings are discussed to uncover insights concerning CL‐ILP research. Pedagogical implications and future research directions are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article from the Journal of Genocide Research discusses the ongoing protests by Tamil families in Sri Lanka demanding information about their disappeared loved ones. It highlights the historical context of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka, particularly during the civil war, and the government's response to these demands. The article also analyzes official narratives surrounding the disappeared and presents a literary response through a short story by V. V. Ganeshananthan. The story explores the complexities of enforced disappearance, memory, and resistance in the face of state denial and erasure. [Extracted from the article]

This article provides the first detailed modern examination of Julia Wedgwood's interventions in the Victorian debate about the origin of language. Wedgwood wanted to understand language, consistently with Darwin's theory of evolution, as having evolved gradually out of other forms of animal behaviour. She focused specifically on imitative behaviours, siding with the imitative or "bow-wow" theory of language which her father Hensleigh Wedgwood also championed. She opposed the conceptualist or "ding-dong" theory of Max Müller, on which language is the "Rubicon" that radically separates humans from animals. I argue that Julia Wedgwood was right to emphasise that the human capacity for language is continuous with animal behaviours, though she was wrong to reduce this continuity to a single behaviour, imitation. Nevertheless, her language essays remain significant as an early attempt to forge a Darwinian account of language, and they illuminate the fact that women were able to take part in Victorian philosophical debates, including on an abstract topic such as philosophy of language. The essays also provide entry into Wedgwood's thought and work more broadly, which are unjustly neglected and deserve to be recovered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advancement of AI-powered technologies, machine translation (MT) has had a notable influence on tourists' travel experiences by altering the way they use or understand language in destinations. The purpose of this study is to identify and describe travelers' viewpoints of MT derived from their experience based on consumption value theory (CVT). This paper also utilized Q methodology to gain insights into travelers' perspectives on MT by performing Q-sorting on 32 South Koreans who used MT while traveling abroad. The analysis of using Ken-Q revealed three major perspectives: a linguistic shortcut, the compass of comprehensibility, and the pocket assistant of linguistic abundance, in which conditional, functional, epistemic, and social values are reflected. The findings generate both theoretical and practical implications for enhancing the utilization of MT and its significance in tourism-related activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

William Dwight Whitney (1827–1894) began The Life and Growth of Language: An Outline of Linguistic Science (1875) with an initial chapter fully devoted to language acquisition. He began his study of linguistic science with language acquisition because for him it was the logical starting point for a study of language, and it introduced his scientific method and his theory of language and mind. Throughout the chapter, Whitney exemplified the centring of his scientific method on direct observation. By beginning his study of language with language acquisition, he rejected the prevailing divine origin theory of his time, which contended that language was divinely created, given to humans, and in decline ever since. Rather, Whitney argued that language began with language acquisition, and that it was continually evolving to meet the ever-changing social and personal needs of its speakers. He also used language acquisition to introduce his reader to his theory of language and mind: a theory that would run consistently throughout his book. Whitney's scientific method and his theory of language and mind positioned linguistics prominently among the emerging sciences of the late nineteenth century and would significantly influence a new course for linguistics in the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Academic Social Science Studies is the property of Journal of Academic Social Science Studies 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.)

Drawing on the philosophy of language and anthroponymy, we aim to outline a theory of proper names, deliberately sidestepping conventional perspectives, which we have systematically addressed in previous instances. Articulating a distinctive viewpoint, grounded in the established connotations of the anthroponym (most notably its characterization as a rigid designator), we aim to demonstrate that names function as any linguistic sign, not deprived of any of its dimensions. We will also consider situations involving name changes, whether undertaken with the consent of the bearer or independently of their will. To the best of our current knowledge, the examination of proper names as speech acts has not received substantial attention in past or contemporary studies; hence, we will allocate appropriate attention to it. Furthermore, our investigation will encompass discussions on unconventional anthroponyms, addressing them as a key facet of our current research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I adopt Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) as a cognitive linguistic concept in a zoosemiotic framework to study behavioral polymorphic deception in Thaumoctopus Mimicus. This offers new analytical tools to zoosemiotics and may inform and underpin CMT from an evolutionary standpoint. The lack of studies on metaphorical thought in non-human animals, despite urgent calls for more diverse multimodal examples exbodying cross-domain mappings, reveals a strong anthropocentric bias in cognitive linguistics. A comprehensive theory of language, however, should be consistent from a diachronic and phylogenetic angle. The paper addresses how and for what metaphor, as an embodied cognitive phenomenon, may have emerged evolutionarily. It is posited that metaphor could have been present in animals before it became engrained in verbal language. This possibility is particularly relevant if we consider that lexical knowledge is not a prerequisite for metaphoric meaning-making, as the basic claim of CMT. I discuss that findings indicating embodied metaphoric processes in animals provide substantiation for cross-domain mappings as residing in cognitive systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language is the weapon of any nation. The extinction of a language means the extinction of the history of that nation because the language highlights the nature of a person and how that nation differs from others. It is the tool that makes a person know who they are and what nation they come from. This study examines the role played by the television series uShaka iLembe in the development and preservation of isiZulu. The purpose of this research is to look at the message that this drama has sent and the steps it has taken to develop and preserve isiZulu. This study used the qualitative research method to gather information about what has been written about the uShaka iLembe drama, following the comments of its fans and what happened while the drama aired. This research is supported by the language management theory (LMT) to discover and analyse the facts about the use of isiZulu in the drama uShaka iLembe, which the researchers perceive as a way to improve and preserve the language. The data were analysed by sorting information according to categories (thematic coding). This study found that although the drama uShaka iLembe focuses on educating people about the history of the Zulu nation, it appears that they also emphasise the use of isiZulu, especially proverbs, idioms and the language of honour (ulimi lokuhlonipha). This shows that they use the depth and beauty of the langauge to promote authentic isiZulu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article undertakes the problem of a Wittgensteinian background of Toulmin's model of argument. While appreciating the original character of the investigations set out by Toulmin in The Uses of Argument, Wittgenstein's ideas taken to be forerunners of both Toulmin's philosophical method and the particular elements of the model of substantial argument are traced backward, to Toulmin's earlier books: The Philosophy of Science (Toulmin, The philosophy of science. An introduction, Hutchinson University Library, London, 1953) and An Examination of the Place of Reason in Ethics (Toulmin, An examination of the place of reason in ethics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1950). The technique of pinpointing the constituents of that model in the books preceding The Uses of Argument is superposing the layout of Toulmin's model on the crucial arguments concerning the earlier books: the scientific one based on Newtonian optics and the moral one concerning keeping promises. Such a procedure allows identifying backing for warrants and argument fields with the methods of representation in The Philosophy of Science and with modes of reasoning in An Examination of the Place of Reason in Ethics. The former is traced to passages 6.3 ff of Wittgenstein's Tractatus, while the latter—to the concept of word-games (the later Wittgenstein's language games). The claim regarding Wittgenstein's background is that in Toulmin's view of Wittgenstein, some parts of Tractatus concerning representing are in line with Wittgenstein's later reflections on language games; as well as that the overall method of The Uses of Argument goes along with Wittgenstein's therapeutic approach to philosophical problems that have to be placed in the context of their ordinary use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay is the introduction to the Special Issue 'Events in language and mind: Theoretical and empirical advances in the event integration theory'. We first review Leonard Talmy's event integration theory in addition to some critiques of this framework. Following this, we point to some empirical research inspired by this framework, which explores the interaction between language and cognition. We then briefly introduce the papers in this volume and discuss their contributions to the event integration framework. We conclude with some limitations, questions and future directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

René Descartes plays a small but pivotal role in Jacques Derrida's 1961–62 course, 'The Notion of World'. In contrast, one finds the world everywhere in Descartes' own texts, from the Discourse on Method to The World. A more extensive discussion of Descartes' world is found in Derrida's 1981/82 seminar, Language and the Discourse on Method, which takes up Descartes' travels throughout the world, a spacing before Cartesian extension, and the tension between universal reason, shared by the whole world, and the necessity of writing philosophy in one language rather than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduces the concept of conceptual engineering, which focuses on modifying representations of reality to improve intellectual lives. It discusses the relationship between conceptual engineering and argumentation theory, highlighting their shared interests and differences. The special issue aims to explore the dialogue between these two disciplines and how redefined concepts can be implemented effectively. The papers in the issue cover topics such as the theory of meaning, logical organization of philosophical concepts, and the challenges of implementing reengineered concepts in society. [Extracted from the article]

Cognitive-oriented work on simile has developed out of attempts to pinpoint features distinguishing simile and metaphor. This development has had such consequences as 1) focusing on simile as an analogy-based process and 2) giving very little attention to the way simile and metaphor work together, treating them as independent rather than cooperating phenomena. Addressing these shortcomings, this study examines the ability of non-ironic like-simile to imply contrasts between the asserted source-target similarity and a thought or belief evoked by this similarity, giving rise to context-bound attitudinal and illocutionary implications. In cases of like-simile scaffolded by metaphors, the contrast-based process arises from the cooperation of the two phenomena in the sense that the scenario created by the like-simile rests on manipulating the conceptual metaphor(s) supporting the comparison. The analysis of these cases is placed in the Extended Conceptual Metaphor Theory (ECMT) – a contextual, multilevel theory of figurative language conceptualisation. The contrast-based process, drawn from the model of irony developed within the Lexical Constructional Model (LCM), is added to this theory as a mental-space level activity. Raykowski's sensory schema (a generalized notion of accumulation intuitions) is also added above the image-schema level metaphors, presenting the manipulation of the scaffolding metaphors as based on the expression of this schema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conceptualises a method for exploring existing places and their architecture. Khartoum's city centre (KCC), Sudan, has been selected as a case study for this exploration. The research adopts the Pattern Language Theory as a theoretical tool to extract KCC's existing local pattern language. Thereafter, it suggests an empirical way to evaluate this pattern language by adding the role of the place users in interpreting it based on their experiences. This has been conducted through participatory focus group discussions with different categories of participants through which it was possible to evaluate, classify and prioritise the extracted patterns. The findings of this paper are threefold. Firstly, extracting a place's local pattern language, coupled with meanings that place users perceive about these patterns, that conveys a deep and systematic understanding of the place's character. Secondly, this finding contributes theoretically to the Pattern Language Theory by emphasising the potential of each place's local pattern language compared to the allegedly universal one. Thirdly, the proposed empirical pattern-based and participatory method of analysis of a place promises to help architects, planners and urban designers in shaping future built environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article advocates a multilingual approach to African philosophy, based on an understanding of philosophy as text. Both oral and written texts, fictional and non-fictional ones, public and private ones are considered. A rigorous study of texts, working across multiple genres and several languages, is the first step in the development of an African philosophy derived from local African cultures. In establishing a textual basis for African philosophy, such a bottom-up approach necessitates a reconsideration of the nature, methods, and themes of philosophy, but also of its textual strategies, its use of language, of the nature of representation, and of the relationship between imaginative literature and theoretical thought. Yet, this article does not understand »philosophy through language« but »philosophy through genre«, in other words, the article draws on traditions of literary theory and literary studies for its analytical concepts. The key premise of this approach is that to understand the philosophical meaning of texts, it is necessary to start with an analysis of textual genres. Genres anchor texts in context, in culture and language. Following a theoretical consideration of genre, this article outlines a comparative study of several genres of texts in selected African languages and their philosophical content. These include the essay in Ciluba, the novel in Swahili, Shona, Acoli, and Lingala, and Islamic Sufi poetry in Swahili and Wolof. The article challenges the conventional limits of both philosophy and literary studies and demonstrates how this approach allows for topical philosophical concerns to emerge from a textual basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Trans/Form/Ação is the property of Trans/Form/Acao 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.)

Drawing on Bernstein's sociology of education, this article offers a critical discussion of the origins, assumptions and values of educational linguistics since its foundation in the 1970s. It argues that the sociohistorical context in which the field emerged led to its areas of focus and mission being based on a number of problematic assumptions originating in a primarily Anglophone, Chomskyan theory of language and learning; assumptions that have led to it promoting a strong 'competence model' (Bernstein's term) of education ever since, thereby exacerbating the disconnect between applied linguist and language teacher communities. After identifying important changes in language learning contexts and characteristics worldwide since the 1970s, the article presents a framework for reimagining educational linguistics that looks beyond competence to also recognise the validity of both literacy and pluralist orientations to education and the need for systems, institutions, programs and teachers to move flexibly or choose eclectically along a continuum between these. It discusses the implications of this reimagined vision, including for understandings of relationships in the classroom, notions of authenticity in texts and communities, language modality, curricular outcomes, assessment and language repertoires. A reimagined research agenda is also offered that it is hoped will support attempts to make educational linguistics relevant to the widest possible range of practitioner communities worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows that Wittgenstein’s situational approach applied to Hume’s is-ought problem leads to the conclusion that this famous Hume thesis is false both in its original version (lack of logical value of deontic sentences) and in its modern understanding (logical separation of deontic sentences and sentences about facts).

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Both Extensible Markup Language [XML] and Formal Ontologies [ISOs] have something to do with partitioning. XML partitions data using elements. FOs partition domains using representational primitives. On the basis of the partitioning of FOs, the philosophical debate has outlined an epistemological view about FOs, namely perspectivism. For perspectivism, partitioning a domain means making a mental distinction between those entities on which we focus and those that fall outside our interest. This partitioning provides a perspective on the domain. In Tambassi (2023) it has been argued that perspectivism is an underlying assumption of FOs. In this paper, I investigate whether the same is true of XML: that is, whether and how XML is perspectivist. I begin by defining FOs and presenting the main claims of perspectivism in order to discuss how these claims apply to FOs. Then I move on to XML, showing both the perspectivism of XML and how the claims apply to XML. The purpose is therefore purely speculative. Discussing whether XML is committed to perspectivism may help to clarify some of the theoretical assumptions of this markup metalanguage. More generally, the idea is that since the creators of markup languages develop these languages under the guidance of some theoretical assumptions, for the sake of methodological accuracy these assumptions should be subjected to critical analysis rather than remain implicit and unexamined.

The contrasting differences that exist in the English and Cantonese phonological systems result in divergent articulatory production between them. This article aims to investigate the negative transfer of Cantonese EFL learners in acquiring English consonant clusters and the constraint rankings of Cantonese and English syllable systems by comparing syllable structures and analyzing experimental statistics. The objective is to elucidate the reasons behind their negative transfer in English syllable acquisition. The research results demonstrated that Cantonese EFL learners found it easier to acquire consonant clusters in the onset position compared to the coda position. Additionally, an increase in consonants in the coda position posed greater difficulties for Cantonese EFL learners. The results also indicated that participants encountered the most problems with deletion, followed by substitution and epenthesis. The OT analysis reveals that the different rankings of faithfulness and markedness constraints in Cantonese and English led to transfer errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by heritage language and translanguaging theory, this ethnographic case study explores how a young second-generation Chinese American student used Mandopop lyrics to enhance her heritage language learning at home. Over six months, the mother, also the researcher collected 61 audio recordings of the student’s readings and singing of Mandopop, as well as translingual conversations between them. Supplemented with the researcher’s field notes, the analysis revealed significant improvements in the student’s pronunciation, Mandarin word recognition, oral language skills, and vocabulary. These improvements subsequently increased her oral translingual practices. Additionally, discussions about Mandopop lyrics enhanced the student’s higher-level thinking and understanding of her heritage culture. Overall, Mandopop lyrics effectively promote the student’s bilingual and biliteracy development. This study underscores the role of Mandopop lyrics in incorporating deep cultural elements, fostering bilingualism, and enhancing biliteracy. By engaging with Mandopop, the student connects with her heritage culture and improves her linguistic abilities in a meaningful and enjoyable way, highlighting the potential of music as a valuable tool in heritage language education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Church of England is currently debating what pronouns to use of God in liturgy. Opinions are strongly established on various sides. This article aims to slow the pace at which strong judgements are arrived at, through four sets of arguments. First, the distinctiveness of English compared with some other European languages and the danger of allowing the contingencies of English pronoun use to dominate the possible meanings of scripture. Second (drawing on the work of Janet Martin Soskice), the complexity of the figure of the fatherhood of God. Third, the significance of German philosophy of language in relation to negative theology and the particular ways in which the inadequacy of language about God has theological consequences. Fourth, a more philosophical discussion of the ways in which what is necessary or possible in one language cannot adequately be conveyed, as necessary or merely possible, in translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The title of Jim Adams's rich and interesting paper clearly states the key question at the heart of his analysis: 'Was classical (late republican) Latin a "standard language"?'. In this article, I contextualise some of his answers to this and other related questions he raises by situating them in the context of theoretical discussions of standardisation and recent explorations of its processes and outcomes. In recent years there has been extensive research on linguistic standardisation. This research has broadened the scope of consideration from the now stock examples of modern Western European languages to minoritized languages, multilingual situations and stateless languages, raising the question of whether traditional models and conceptions of standardisation often associated with the creation of a nation‐state can equally be applied to other contexts, including Latin during the late republican and early imperial periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]