Science topic

Language - Science topic

Language is a verbal or nonverbal means of communicating ideas or feelings.
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Our world has many kind of languages. Some languages have important contribution for our lives. For example we can learn a lot of sciences and technologies transfer from that language. But the other ones maybe ourselves don't find any advantages to study that language. Looks like just waste our time. What is your opinion about this topics ?
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Thank you for your insight Rhianon Allen, and Victoria Sethunya.
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‘Entrance to courses is frequently restricted by high prerequisites in terms of prior academic performance (Arendt, Lange, & Wakefield, 1986; Crawford-Lange, 1985; Lange, 1987). This elitism is curious when one considers that it operates under the assumption that some students cannot learn a second language when virtually all students have achieved proficiency in a first language (Crawford & McLaren 2004, p. 141).
Should Higher Education institutes in native English-speaking countries request from Non-native English Speakers (NNES) English proficiency requirements for entry without mandating the same proficiency tests for Native English Speakers (NES)?
Some Higher Education institutes in native English-speaking countries require proof of proficiency from Non-native English-speaking individuals for entrance. There is no question that students need to communicate in the target culture language. However, these institutes enforce strict IELTS band scores for each language skill (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) from NNES but do not mandate that NES undertake the proficiency test. This assumes that NES are naturally skilled in reading, writing, speaking, and listening, whereas, in reality, not all NES have strong writing or reading skills.
Arguments to consider:
1) Some NNES might have exam anxiety, which puts them at a disadvantage when taking English proficiency tests.
2) Some topics in English proficiency tests are specific to NES cultures that NNES may be unfamiliar with.
3) NNES should have the opportunity to be accepted regardless of their English proficiency scores with options for prerequisite courses for improvement.
4) Different cultures have different writing styles. Language Tests assessors might not be familiar with these cultural differences, which may affect grading.
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Interesting discussion topic, RG Scholar Nariman . . . I suggest for you to actually experience what you are talking about in this platform . . . to study here in the United States . . . You will be surprised to see and meet thousands of foreign students enrolled in every university (both public and private) in every state in this beautiful country, the United States of America. You can apply for admission to find out the requirements yourself.
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As in French le/la, in German der/die/das & other languages, thera are genders for words & so articles in some languages. Grammaticaly gender for words are complete redundancy !? Governments have to cancel them offically as soon as possible so that people can learn those languages easily also. One of the reason English almost became universal language is due to being genderless for words !
"It's an inheritance from our distant past. Researchers believe that Proto-Indo-European had two genders: animate and inanimate. It can also, in some cases, make it easier to use pronouns clearly when you're talking about multiple objects."
As Mark Twain once wrote in reference to German:
A person’s mouth, neck, bosom, elbows, fingers, nails, feet, and body are of the male sex, and his head is male or neuter according to the word selected to signify it, and not according to the sex of the individual who wears it! A person’s nose, lips, shoulders, breast, hands, and toes are of the female sex; and his hair, ears, eyes, chin, legs, knees, heart, and conscience haven’t any sex at all…
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Each language has its own rules and structure. Governments have nothing to do with this. It is language specific. You can not change it in a fortnight.
Regards
Mustapha Boughoulid
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The question of transliteration (transcription) from Ukrainian Cyrillic to Latin in scientific texts is something that each Ukrainian researcher faced in his life. However, I could not find a perfect solution, so I am asking for your opinion.
Previously, for the transliterations of Ukrainian texts, I used transliteration rules from 27.01.2010 (http://ukrlit.org/transliteratsiia), which are known in Ukraine but not always understandable for foreigners. E.g. my previous surname was also transliterated using this standard (Дарія Ширяєва -> Dariia Shyriaieva, and to be honest, I do not know any foreigner who can read my name correctly using this official transliteration, especially the four vowels in the line "iaie"...)
So, it was not an ideal option, but I was used to it, and it is an accepted transliteration. That's why I defended this transliteration in my discussions with others.
However, I see that many people follow the ISO 9 standard (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_9) as an international standard, which also seems not ideal to me (at least the last version). Also, recently I found the mention of a new transliteration standard (quite a strange one!): "DSTU 9112:2021. Cyrillic-Latin transliteration and Latin-Cyrillic retransliteration of Ukrainian texts. Writing rules" (https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%A1%D0%A2%D0%A3_9112:2021).
Could you please explain how you transliterate Ukrainian texts, which standard you use and why?
Thank you very much!
Dariia
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The same. As far as I understand, 2010 style is still used in official documents. Plus, despite the shortcomings, this is the simplest option, for which the standard Latin alphabet layout is enough.
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In UAE,  there are other Arabic dialects used. I just want to examine students attitudes towards English, Standard Arabic and the spoken dialect using the matched guise technique. So which dialect to use the in the recorded  dialect guise  ?
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One of the answer would be the sensory input, but I want to know what others think
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Language remains the birth child of every children of the universe .We all know that at the birth time of every child which occurs the sound resembling the sound of the arrival creating the sound calling the problems of new arrival .Every human beings irrespective , caste , creed & religion are social animals sitting the company of their society & culture & with growth of every human beings language comes automatically in their ear & mind . It is naturally that every human beings take the meaning of understand with the language .
This is my personal opinion
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In Turkey, translation is used in the multiple-choice format in language proficiency exams. I wonder if there are any other examples around the world.
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Hi, everyone. :)
Language maintenance and language shifting is an interesting topic. Talking about Indonesia, our linguists note that until 2022 Indonesia has 718 languages. Indonesia really cares about the existing languages.
One thing that is interesting, language maintenance and language shift are also influenced by geographical conditions.
To accommodate 718 different languages, Indonesia has a geographical condition of islands. If we move from island to island in Indonesia, the use of the language is very contrasting, there is contact of different languages ​​between us.
Some literature states that language maintenance and language shift are strongly influenced by the concentration of speakers in an area.
So, in the developments related to the topic of language maintenance and language shift regarding geographical conditions, to what extent have linguists made new breakthroughs in this issue?
I think that the study of language maintenance and language shifts related to regions is the same as the study of food availability or state territory which makes the area the main factor for this defense.
I throw this question at all linguists, do you have a new point of view in the keywords language, maintenance, and geographical.
Kind regards :)
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Language maintenance is the maintenance of a language (usually L1) despite the influence of external sociolinguistic forces (usually powerful language(s) and language shift, is a shift, transfer, replacement or language assimilation of usually L1 to L2 due mainly to the external sociolinguistic forces influencing a speech community to shift to a different language over time. This happens because speakers may perceived the new language as prestigious, stabilized, standardized over their L1 (lower-status). An example is the shift from first languages to second language(s) such as the English language.
Solution for language maintenance and protection from language shift rests on Social networks.
Social network deals with the relationships contracted with others, with the community structures and properties entailed in these relationships (Milroy, 1978,1980 &1987)
· It views social networks as a means of capturing the dynamics underlying speakers’ interactional behaviours and cultures.
The fundamental assumption is that people create their communities with meaningful framework in attaining stronger relationship for solving the problems of daily life.
Personal communities are constituted by interpersonal ties of different types, strengths, and structural relationships between links (varying in nature) but a stronger link can become the anchor to the network.
For close-knit network with strong ties
Such networks have the following characteristics, they are
  • Relatively dense = everyone would know everyone else (developing a common behavior and culture)
  • Multiplex = the actors would know one another in a range of capacities
Where do we find some close-knit networks? In smaller communities, but also in cities, because of cultural and economical diversity, e.g. newer emigrants communities, or High-educated individuals.
Functions:
  1. Protect interest of group
  2. Maintain and enforce local conventions and norms that are opposed to the mainstream -> lingustic norms, e.g.vernaculars, are maintained via strong ties within close-knit communities.
Network with weak ties
These networks have the following characteristics, they are:
  • Casual acquaintances between individuals
  • Associated with socially and geographically mobile persons
  • They often characterize the relations between groups
Lead to weakening of a close-knit network structure -> these are prone to change, innovations and influence between groups and may lead to language shift/language transfer/language/language replacement.
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Hello all. I hope you are always in good health.
In the maintenance and shift of language, in the current era. What factors are most influential in language maintenance or language shift?
Generally, language maintenance and language shift involve attitudes, bilingualism, number of speakers, regional concentration, genealogy, etc.
Share your experience here. :)
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The factors are diverse and include political, social, demographic, economic, cultural, linguistic, psychological and institutional support factors. They are demonstrated in this article
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From Hamlet: “What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!”
From Herder’s On the Origin of Language (Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache): “... we perceive to the right and to the left why no animal can invent language, why no God need invent language, and why man, as man, can and must invent language."
When Shakespeare and Herder use the word “man”, do they mean every individual human being or all of humanity acting collectively are noble in reason (per Hamlet) or create language (per Herder)? Do they use the word “man” as representative of humanity, or to they mean that every individual human being warrants admiration?
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Very much both. But genius is individual.
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Is it a problem of philosophy, language, physics, thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, or brain physiology? Or something else? Or beyond understanding?
A physiological approach is discussed by Joseph LeDoux (in The Deep History of Ourselves, 2020) among other authors. A physics orientation is considered in Deepak Chopra, Sir Roger Penrose, Brandon Carter (How Consciousness Became the Universe: Quantum Physics, 2017). David Rosenthal has written several books of philosophy about consciousness. And Bedau 1997 and Chalmers 2006. Which is the right conceptual reference frame? Or is more than one required?
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Fellow psychologist and people of great curiosity! Greetings! Please help a novice in the topic. I was asked of my opinions on how well our words represent our true thought and beliefs, which left me wondering if there are empirical evidences on the subject. As it is not my field, I had a quite hard time finding the right word into the search engine. It would be great if you could suggest a few readings or simply share your thoughts!
(There is no parametre so far, thus, it could be anything related to the topic ' to what extent language does reflects attitude; what are factors influencing truthfulness of the word; When we change our attitude towards a certain topic, would our words adapt just as fast? etc.)
Thank you!
Steven
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There are cognitive skills that guide behavior. The deployment of these skills can be regarded as involving thought at various levels of awareness, including unconscious thought. Such know-how cannot be completely verbalized and indeed, some verbalization can interfere with the acquisition or exercise of the skill. Developers of AI drawing on human exemplars of expertise face this problem when they try to reduce skills to rules (rules are verbal) inasmuch as human experts often don't seem to employ a rule-based approach and even when they do invoke rules, their rules don't fully represent their modus operandi.
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And if in addition to advancing in “Artificial Intelligence” we further investigate our “Natural Intelligence”!?
for example, Natural Intelligence and Research in Neurodegenerative diseases.
While we are still at an early stage in answering some key questions about Natural Intelligence [NI] [such as what algorithms the mind uses] the rapidly advancing Artificial Intelligence [AI] has already begun to change our Daily Lives. Machine learning has brought to light remarkable potential in healthcare, facilitating speech recognition, clinical image analysis, and medical diagnosis. For example, there is a growing need for automation of medical imaging, as it takes a lot of time and resources to train an Expert Human Radiologist. Deep learning AI architectures have been developed to analyze medical images of the brain, lungs, heart, breast, liver, skeletal muscle, some of which have already been used in clinics to aid in disease diagnosis.
Cfr.
This Question does not refer to "NATURALISTIC INTELLIGENCE" but to "NATURAL INTELLIGENCE"
We are asking by NATURAL INTELLIGENCE [NI] not by NATURALIST INTELLIGENCE
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In the following link, there are nine essential skills of naturalist intelligence and how they could help us.
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I am interested in meaning-making practices associated with visual language and what that means for traditional curricula in the English-speaking Caribbean.
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In the Middle East, there is no interest in this topic
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Can anyone recommend a journal for submission? I am particularly looking for journals that (i) accept pieces in the 800 to 2000 word range, and (ii) that have no publication fees.
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Karl Pfeifer you can try Wiley or the International Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Translation (IJLLT)
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Studying one of the varieties of Persian, it is assumed that, regardless of the stress position, all the short (mono-moraic) vowels are reduced to schwa in all of the open syllables. More clearly, all long (bi-moraic) vowels are kept intact and the short vowels have a surface representation only if they are the nucleus of closed syllables. Has any research provided any evidence of a language or a variety which can fit a similar phonological pattern?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
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Johan Schalin Thanks for the reply. I will read it with great interest.
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Dear Friends,
Greeting.
Happy New Year. I wish everybody a prosperous New Year.
I'm thinking of a project for checking the sound (phonetics) that will lost or promoted while switching from one set of alphabet to another. For example switching from Arabic letters to Latin in Turkey; does the set of Latin letters saved all Turkish phonetics (sound)? What is the advantages and/or disadvantages of such switching?
Did such work carried out anywhere?
Best Regards,
ABDUL-SAHIB
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Dear عائشة عبد الواحد thank you for the invaluable answer.
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Hi all. A project I'm working on involves the use of a two-way repeated measures ANOVA. The dependent variable is the transcriptional accuracy of sentences-in-noise (measured in proportions). The independent variables are accents of the sentences (2 accents) and visual primes (2 kinds of primes). The results show that there were significant main effects of primes and accents and a significant two-way interaction between primes and accents (F(1, 30)=9.97, p=0.004). However, as shown in the attached line chart, the two lines are almost parallel. Moreover, post-hoc paired-sample t-tests confirmed that participants' accuracy with accent2(Mean=0.77, s.d.=0.13) is significantly higher than accuracy with accent1(Mean=0.51, s.d.=0.18) in prime 1 condition, and similarly, participants' accuracy with accent2 (Mean=0.68, s.d.=0.13) is significantly higher than accuracy with accent1(Mean=0.31, s.d.=0.12) in prime 2 condition. Does this indicate that the main effects of accent and prime are not dependent on each other? If so, isn't this contradictory with the result suggesting significant interaction? Or is it that the occurrence of a significant 2-way interaction only requires that the difference between the group mean accuracies with accent 1 and 2 was smaller in prime 1 condition than in prime 2 condition, which in this case is true.
Thank you in advance!!!
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This is a good example of why it's important to not place too much importance on p-values.
The significant p-value tells you that the statistical procedure is able to identify an effect of the interaction against the noise of the variability of the data * . Looking at the plot, your eyes, too, tell you that the slopes are different relative to the variability in the data. The error bars on the red points overlap, and those on the blue points do not.
But this significant result does not tell you that the interaction effect is large, nor that it is of any practical importance. The plot is very helpful for the reader to understand the results. The difference in slopes is small relative to the difference in Accents, and probably relative to the difference in Primes. How you interpret these observations for your reader is up to you.
__________
* This description is not technically correct, but hopefully gives you a sense of the point I'm trying to make.
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Is the use of English in scientific articles a real need for an international working language, or a sign of long-lasting Colonialism that keeps limiting the development of perspectives emerging from non-native English speaking cultures?
Do we really need to publish in English? I think we do unless we find another international working language to communicate with colleagues, and people in general, who use a language different than ours. Remember that, throughout history, scholars have always found one or a small group of working languages to communicate with each other (Latin, German, French, among others).
But, now that we use English, ... do we have alternatives to communicate our findings in our own language? Some people say we don´t because we have to invest every second of our time publishing in English. Some others say that we must find a way to save some time to publish in our language in order to better develop our ideas and to better communicate with our own societies. There must be other perspectives out there....please, let us know what would you do to reconcile the different alternatives, and bring solutions into practice, and also tell us what are your institutions doing to address this issue.
Framework Readings (feel free to suggest more. I´ll keep adding):
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Regardless of what English means in terms of colonialism, I am glad that the language of science has been standardized. Imagine making a literature search just to find relevant studies in more than 10 languages... Is necessary to discuss whether we need to migrate to another language? Perhaps if your findings are of national relevancy, you are absolutely free to publish your results in a native-speaking journal. On the other hand, if you are aiming at an international audience, English-based journals are the go.
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My friend is looking for coauthors in Psychology & Cognitive Neuroscience field. Basically you will be responsible for paraphrasing, creating figures, and collecting references for a variety of publications. Please leave your email address if you are interested. 10 hours a week is required as there is a lot of projects to be done!
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Will message you.
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Hello,
We are working on a review regarding the relationship between language and the mutiple-demand network. You will be responsible for addressing the reviewer's criticisms. Please leave your email address if you are interested.
Best,
W
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This would be a great question to post in our new free medical imaging question and answer forum ( www.imagingQA.com ). There are already a few fMRI questions on there and a number of fMRI users and experts in the community. If useful, please feel free to open a new topic at the link below :
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Most teachers agree that teaching the culture of native-speaking countries is valuable, but how MUCH should this be done?  Do you have a percentage in mind or other ways of saying how much of the course should be about culture?
And how does this fit in with the multi-cultural or meta-cultural perspective and rationale for learning the other language?
Has your perspective changed over time?
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Language and culture are two inseparable entities. Therefore, language learning is at once cultural learning. One’s mastery of the linguistic elements alone does not guarantee he will be able to communicate through a language. Mastering the cultural element is a must, such recognition then cultivated an awareness in foreign language teaching experts that language and culture are inseparable
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I have a research and i should analyze the types of code-switching. however, i can't use Poplack's theory because my instructor said that it is too old. Any suggestions of new theories?
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Garcia or Cangarajah's concepts of translanguaging might help you.
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Hello,
Are there any studies in linguistics about the average information density per character according to language (in the written form)?
Actually, I'm looking for data (rankings, for instance) on the average information density per character (or for 100, 1000, etc. characters) for languages like English, French, Japanese, etc. (in their written, not spoken, form).
Thank you very much.
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I was trying to determine whether there are differences in the frequencies of words (lemmas) in a given language corpus starting with the letter K and starting with the letter M. Some 50 000 words starting with K and 54000 words starting with M altogether. I first tried using the chi-square test, but the comments below revealed that this was an error.
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Did you try Python word count?
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google services that went from the best search engine to the backbone of the internet are very useful for the search of information, but sometimes the language in which that information is found is not the native of the researcher, for this reason translators are used to facilitate the understanding of it
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Google Translate is free, fast, and pretty accurate. Thanks to its massive database, the software can deliver decent translations that can help you get the main idea of a text...
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Hello! I am looking for Spanish, English and Chinese native speakers to participate in my final survey for my PhD thesis.
This is the direct link.
Thank you for your participation.
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Interesting
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We are developing a test for ad-hoc (ad-hoc) and scalar implicatures (SI) and are showing 3 images (of similar nature) to the participants: image, image with 1 item, image with 2 items.
Eg. Plate with pasta, a plate with pasta and sauce, a plate with pasta, sauce and meatballs.
A question for an ad-hoc is: My pasta has meatballs, which is my pasta?
Q. for an SI is: My pasta has sauce or meatballs, which is my pasta? (pasta with sauce is the target item since we are testing pragmatic implicatures, where 'or' means 'not both'.
The item that causes many difficulties in making up questions is the image without any items, ie. plate with pasta. How do we phrase the question so that it elicits this image as a target response, without using too complex syntax?
Negation; "My plate has no sauce or meatballs", "My plate has only pasta, no sauce and no meatballs", seems like a complex structure to introduce as a counterbalance to the other type of items.
Has anyone tested something similar, without negation? We would be grateful for any kind of tips and hints.
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Could you just say: my plate has plain plasta?
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We attempt to make a research to explore prosodic features of verbal irony read by Chinese EFL learners. We want to figure out:
1. the prosodic features of verbal irony read by Chinese learners;
2. the difference of prosodic features in verbal irony read by Chinese learners and native speakers;
3. whether context (high and low) influence the reading of verbal irony. 
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(LLS= Language Learning Strategies).
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Where can I get the code for K prototype algorithm for mixed attributes? Has anyone implemented it in any language?
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I recently found an implementation of kprototypes in Python.
Besides, here is a useful example of kprototypes.
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Or not.
Harry Jerison in his 1991 book Brain Size and the Evolution of Mind, at p. 89 has:
Mind is a necessary brain adaptation that organizes otherwise unmanageable amounts of neural information into a representation of the external world.
Is Jerison right?
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Neurons are not the best level of abstraction when speaking of mind. You don't talk about myocytes when you discuss about soccer. Concepts, symbols, and the various types of interactions between them, are more appropriate building blocks of mind.
Regards,
Joachim
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I am looking for any resources which may be useful in a study I am conducting on the impacts that language may have on our perception of crimes. I will be using headlines which convey a particular crime in a variety of lights; one which may appear to justify the perpetrator's actions, and one which portrays the crime in a neutral, non-biased way. I am looking for sources/previous studies which may back up this idea.
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Yes, it can. I would also suggest using CDA methodology. A word's dictionary and contextual meanings may be used as a starting point.
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How to track language change?
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My offering has been in relation to: "The Surname - Where has it gone?"
Has it died or simply become obsolete?
My observation is in the medical context when conversing with patients
Using first names outside of the confines of family and friends creates an erroneous sense of intimacy and social equivalence which seems to pervade everyday professional and business activities but may have some limitations in the patient - doctor relationship.
Guy Walters' offerings in the Nov 2020 issue of 'The Spectator' magazine may be more generally applicable.@
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What data or physics supports innateness or on the contrary, the idea that language is a creation of society? Historically, from Herder through David Hume to Jespersen, Sapir, Whorf, Zipf , language was considered to have been created by societies. Beginning around 1960 the idea of language as a genetically innate human capacity began to have influence. Who is right?
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Dear Robert Shour, I agree with Prof. Farangis Shahidzade post.
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I have been studying Zen in general and Koans in particular for a while. And it's applications in BUSINESS
The formulation of these Koans at first glance seems absurd and an austere waste of time, at least to me at first, but I suddenly started to see the logic behind it.
My troubles at the moment are;
1) How would I generate such Koans where my aim would be to seek answers that satisfy two divergent goals, tasks, concepts etc...
And second
2) if I somehow manage to generate such thing, how would I present it to my audience?
A statement, a question, a puzzle, a riddle anything else?....
The above is the object of my next publication and I it seems my brain is too small to handle it, therefore I am asking your help to generate some Koans for the business world
Many thanks in advance
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Can you give me more clarification on this subject
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The Publication Manual of APA (7th edition) has a very useful chapter on bias-free language. I would like to know if you've come across such chapters or sections in other publication manuals or style guides.
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My pleasure, Jakob.
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I would love to hear what people have come across in relation to language accessibility in publications. Ideally the journal focuses on Entomology and/or biodiversity, but I am also just curious on a broader scale if language friendly journals exist.
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Dear Erin Krichilsky I'm just wondering why you are looking for "a journal that accepts publications in two languages or at least is bilingual friendly". What is it good for to publish in different languages? We used to publish our research papers in German back in the 1970's and 1980's, but then we realized that the papers were not read by many researchers abroad. Then we switched to English to make sure that our papers are read worldwide (and eventually cited).
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What are racism's effects on language acquisition?
Whether on a personal or institutional level, please share your experiences.
Thank you.
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Racism, as any other from of discrimination like untouchability or other marginalization invariably affects language acquisition. In case of academic language acquisition like teaching English as second language, there is an observed and marked indications that the degree of language learning is not the same as the 'majority ' or 'mainstream ' learners.
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This is so far the procedure I was trying upon and then I couldn't fix it
As per my understanding here some definitions:
- lexical frequencies, that is, the frequencies with which correspondences occur in a dictionary or, as here, in a word list;
- lexical frequency is the frequency with which the correspondence occurs when you count all and only the correspondences in a dictionary.
- text frequencies, that is, the frequencies with which correspondences occur in a large corpus.
- text frequency is the frequency with which a correspondence occurs when you count all the correspondences in a large set of pieces of continuous prose ...;
You will see that lexical frequency produces much lower counts than text frequency because in lexical frequency each correspondence is counted only once per word in which it occurs, whereas text frequency counts each correspondence multiple times, depending on how often the words in which it appears to occur.
When referring to the frequency of occurrence, two different frequencies are used: type and token. Type frequency counts a word once.
So I understand that probably lexical frequencies deal with types counting the words once and text frequencies deal with tokens counting the words multiple times in a corpus, therefore for the last, we need to take into account the word frequency in which those phonemes and graphemes occur.
So far I managed phoneme frequencies as it follows
Phoneme frequencies:
Lexical frequency is: (single count of a phoneme per word/total number of counted phonemes in the word list)*100= Lexical Frequency % of a specific phoneme in the word list.
Text frequency is similar but then I fail when trying to add the frequencies of the words in the word list: (all counts of a phoneme per word/total number of counted phonemes in the word list)*100 vs (sum of the word frequencies of the targeted words that contain the phoneme/total sum of all the frequencies of all the words in the list)= Text Frequency % of a specific phoneme in the word list.
PLEASE HELP ME TO FIND A FORMULA ON HOW TO CALCULATE THE LEXICAL FREQUENCY AND THE TEXT FREQUENCY of phonemes and graphemes.
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Hola,
Para el cálculo de la frecuencia léxica de unidades simples o complejas, se suele utilizar WordSmith o AntCon.
Saludos
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Do you know any aphorisms, old sayings, parables, folk proverbs, etc. on science, wisdom and knowledge, ...?
Please, quote.
Best wishes
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All too often a clear conscience is merely the result of a bad memory.
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Can we apply the theoretical computer science for proofs of theorems in Math?
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We are conducting a research about the language use of Manobo students on social media specifically facebook, twitter and instagram. Your input could surely enhance the said endeavor.
Thank you very much!
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These studies can be found on many websites
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My question is connected to rather unclear point of error correlation that many scholars encounter while conducting their SEM analysis. It is pretty often when scholars report procedures of correlating the error terms to enhance the overall goodness of fit for their models. Hermida (2015), for instance, provided an in-depth analysis for such issue and pointed out that there are many cases within social sciences studies when researchers do not provide appropriate justification for the error correlation. I have read in Harrington (2008) that the measurement errors can be the result of similar meaning or close to the meanings of words and phrases in the statements that participants are asked to assess. Another option to justify such correlation was connected to longitudinal studies and a priori justification for the error terms which might be based on the nature of study variables.
In my personal case, I have two items with Modification indices above 20.
lhs op rhs mi epc sepc.lv sepc.all sepc.nox
12 item1 ~~ item2 25.788 0.471 0.471 0.476 0.476
After correlating the errors, the model fit appears just great (Model consists of 5 latent factors of the first order and 2 latent factors of the first order; n=168; number of items: around 23). However, I am concerned with how to justify the error terms correlations. In my case the wording of two items appear very similar: With other students in English language class I feel supported (item 1) and With other students in English language class I feel supported (item 2)(Likert scale from 1 to 7). According to Harrington (2008) it's enough to justify the correlation between errors.
However, I would appreciate any comments on whether justification of similar wording of questions seems enough for proving error correlations.
Any further real-life examples of wording the items/questions or articles on the same topic are also well-appreciated.
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Dear Artem and Marcel,
there are two problems with post-hoc correlating errors
1) the error covariance is causally unspecific (as any correlation). If one possibility is true namely that both items additionally measure an omitted latent than estimating the error cov will fit the model but the omitted latent variable still is not explicitly contained in the model. This may be unproblematic if this latent is just the response reaction on a specific word contained in both items --but sometimes it may be a substantial latent variable missing in the model whose omission will bias the effects of other, contained latent variabels.
2) While issue #1 still presumes that the factor model is correct (but the items *in addition* share a further cause, the need for estimating error covs will appear as assign of a fundamental misspecification of the factor model: If the factor model is to simple (e.g., you test a 1-factor model where as the true structure contains more) than the only proposal the algorithm can make is to estimate error covs. These can be interpreted as the valves in a technical system. Opening the valves with reduce the pressure but not solve the problem. To the contrary: Your model will fit but it is worse than before.
One simple add-hoc test is to estimate the error cov and then to include further variables in the model which correlate (are receive / emit effects) with/from/on the latent target variable. You will often see that the model which had fitted one minute ago (due to the estimation of the error cov) again shows a substantial misfit as the factor model is still wrong and cannot explain the new restrictions and correlations between the indicators and the newly added variables.
Please not that the goal in CFA/SEM is not to get a fitting model! The (mis)fit of the model is just a tool to evaluate the causal correctness. If data fit would be the essential goal than SEModeling would be so easy: Just saturate the model and you always get a perfect data fit.
One aspect is the post-hoc justification of the error-covs: I remember once reading MacCallum (I think that it was him) who wrote that he knows no colleague who would not have enough phantasy to come to an idea to explain a post-hoc need for an error covariance. :)
Hence, besides the causal issues noted above, there are statistical problems with regard to overfitting capitalization on chance (as any other post-hoc change of the model). That is: Better look onto your items before doing the model testing and think wether they could be reasons that lead to an error covariance.
One example is the longitudinal case where error covariances between the same items are expected and are included from the beginning.
If you have to post hoc include the error covariances, carefully consider other potential reasons (mainly the more fundamental issues noted in #2) and replicate the study. But replication in causal inference context should always imply an enlargement of the model (i.e., including new variables).
Best,
Holger
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Dear Research Colleagues,
Are you familiar with studies on language acquisition in early simultaneous trilingual children that show whether there are any delays in their language development? I am familiar with several studies on early simultaneous bilinguals indicating that such speakers are not significantly delayed in language acquisition. I wonder if trilinguals differ from mono- and bilinguals in how fast they acquire their languages.
I will appreciate your feedback.
Thank you.
Pleasant regards,
Monika
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By using examples of sonnets from source language.
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Good answer Soma Chakraborty
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I would like to know the types of data science projects you are working on using Julia programming Language. You can view my video on YouTube. Here is link:
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Ramiro Checa-Garcia, Thanks for You.
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I'm doing a comparative study on social media language used by native and non-native speakers with special reference to Instagram. I am planning on using Discourse analysis. What is your take on this? Could anyone please suggest me what else can be used?
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I wonder why you are carrying out this study?
What questions are you trying to answer, through examining social media language from different speakers in this way?
Why are these questions interesting?
If you are clear about your own answers to questions like these, you will be better placed to judge which analytical methods are likely to be appropriate.
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Dear Colleague,
It would be your generosity to respond to the questionnaires and also distribute it among your colleagues, students, and networks.
We would like to ask you if you would be so kind as to complete the following online questionnaires of a cross-cultural research study designed to investigate the relationship between CALL literacy and the attitudes of language teachers and students towards Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL).
Teachers and students who have previously answered the questionnaire say that it took about 10-20 minutes to do so. Your help would be very much appreciated.
Be sure that all the personal data provided from the questionnaire will be kept strictly confidential in our reports. Your personal data will not be disclosed nor used for any other purpose than educational research.
As a cross-cultural study, I need a good number of data from different countries. Please circulate this post through your networks.
Your input is really important for our study.
If you are both a teacher and a student please respond to both questionnaires.
Thank you in advance for your help and cooperation.
Regards,
Dara Tafazoli
Mª Elena Gómez Parra
Cristina A. Huertas Abril
University of Cordoba, Córdoba, Spain
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Gladly! And I'll convey your questionnaire to my students as well.
Interesting questionnaire although quite long, but I hope your project will benefit from that.
I wish you good luck with your research!
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Software engineering Software Effort estimation
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There are several methods of software development effort estimation which are based on different size metrics such as Function Points, Object Points, Use Case Points. The methods based on these metrics use different environmental and technical factors which influence software development effort. I want to do research on Use Case Point  based software development effort estimation. So I need a dataset of industrial software projects in which the characteristics of software projects are given in terms of Use Case Points metrics.
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In his important poem “Little Gidding”, T.S.Elliot makes the soul of a dead man say of his and by implication all our lives:
Since our concern was speech, and speech impelled us
To purify the dialect of the tribe
And urge the mind to aftersight and foresight,
….
DOES human speech “urge the mind to aftersight and foresight”?
If so, that seems to me very important!
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Human speech does indeed urge the mind to foresight and aftersight, but only up to a point, and in my world that is not very far compared with information taken into the brain visually. The latter is the main channel for creation of memory and thought, by conversion of images in the form of stored holographic structures which are capable of being reinvoked given sufficient stimulus by later experience. Apologies for my somewhat technical approach to this interesintg statement by Elliot, but I wrote a paper in November 2019 (attached) which seems to be a little relevant to his statement. It is a bone of conetention with me how language is inadequate to convey undersanding of the way in which the minds of tohers's work in the accurate transmission of information. Unfortunately, this is one of the most convenient means we have currently at our disposal for transmission of understanding, one to another, but this will change when we know more about the operation of mind and memory, on which subject I have been toiling for far too long.
Nick
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I'm often very skeptical about the language decisions and policies issued by governments or self-proclaimed language authorities to control the way people use language. Nevertheless, I'm just curious to know if there is evidence for the (partial or full) success of such a top-down approach in some contexts.
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Hi Moustafa Amrate This is a really thought-provoking question. In the past, that was certainly the case in many different European contexts, see for example what the prescriptivists tried to do with the English language (for ex. Dryden wanted to "fix" the language) and the (mostly failed attempts) of the Royal Society to reform the language in the XVII century. Today three examples of academies that are considered as sources of how language should be used are the Académie française in France. This body gives prescriptive rules on how good French should be, even though I don't think it uses measures to enforce its recommendations (but I'm not sure). The same can be said about the Royal Spanish Academy in Spain that gives recommendations for standardisation in the many Spanish-speaking countries (with controversies about what real Spanish is, considering that Standard Spanish is simply a regional variety, Castillan - something that it is true for EVERY Standard) is THE prevailing variety. In Italy we have the Accademia della Crusca, even though I suspect this is not formally into language planning policies as in other contexts.
It is not by chance that all these languages that I am here referring to are Romance languages, with a long history of well-established prescriptivism.
Hope this may be useful, this is not my area of study, just some comments :)
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In the Kenyan context mother tongue is regarded as the language of the school catchment area. First language is regarded as the language acquired before none. Some vernaculars are mother tongues and first languages.
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International Mother Language Day 21 February
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Can you think of a research work OR a way to prove that "a certain bag of words has more value / worth / creativity than other set of words" !
For example: Enjoy is more proper than chill OR Observe has more weight than See.
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I am not sure that you can prove that one word is better than another, but you can set criteria to judge against.
For example, in the context in which you use it, "chill" is slang and "enjoy" is not. "Observe" is more elevated vocabulary than "see." Elevated vocabulary that is not slang could be among your criteria for evaluating language.
But which vocabulary is best depends on the situation. In some situations, "chill" may be arguably better, or more appropriate, than "enjoy."
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Some philosophers/mathematicians (e.g., Tarski) laid some emphasis on construing a language that does not admit of contradictions, and were even ready to pay the price (if you want to call it thus) of excluding semantic terms and the like. I came to ask myself if it is actually a problem (rather than an advantage) of a language that it is able to express many things (including contradictions). What do you think?
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Paraconsistent logics embrace contradictions to a certain extent rather than exclude them.
"A primary motivation for paraconsistent logic is the conviction that it ought to be possible to reason with inconsistent information in a controlled and discriminating way. The principle of explosion [= the classical rule than any proposition whatsoever follows from a contradiction] precludes this, and so must be abandoned." Wikipedia
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For instance, language A uses different verbs for different sex, whereas language B does not. Thus, it can save some words to describe the sex of the subject in language A rather than language B.
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لايستطيع القانون حفظ اللغات بشكل مطلق, بقدر محافظة الفرد على لغته والحرص على التواصل
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Hi, I am a german university student (business administration and psychology) and I am going to write my bachelor thesis.
I would like to research a correlation between stress and the language. For the following points I need your help:
- differently option for stress induction
- or unsolvable tasks for stress induction
- or questionnaire for stress induction
I know about the trier social stress test and the socially evaluative cold water stress test, so I need other options. The best way for me is, to have a computeraided stress test.
I hope you can help me and make my student life a little easier :-).
Best regards,
Timo Köhler
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You might like to try a variation of the unsolvable tracing task used by Roberts et al (2019). It's more typically referred to as a 'frustration tolerance task' or an 'ego depletion paradigm' than a stress induction per se, but it serves a similar purpose. Other challenging cognitive tests (e.g. serial sevens task) can also be used in the same way.
Source:
Roberts, A. C., Yap, H. S., Kwok, K. W., Car, J., Chee-Kiong, S. O. H., & Christopoulos, G. I. (2019). The cubicle deconstructed: Simple visual enclosure improves perseverance. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 63, 60-73.
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You tend to see papers being published which contain a lot of grammatical and language errors.
These errors can make the papers very difficult to read and can in some cases really hurt the credibility of the work. Some journals do a good job at correcting these things, but some journals do nothing.
Should they do a better job or is it entirely up to the authors to fix these things? Once the paper is published, the authors are typically required to transfer the copyright, so I feel like it's the journals' obligation to fix these things.
The same questions can be asked about figure quality.
I would be great to hear from editors, both academic and professional.
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I agree with all the above comments it is both the writers' and journals' responsibilites to see to it that published papers look/read professional(ly). There is a third and fourth line of responsibility however Graduate programs ought to be teaching professional (i.e. journal quality) wrtiting, and professors ought to be mentoring their students regarding writing both by demanding solid writing on exams and term papers and on theses and dissertations--even going so far as lowering grades for less than professional quality writing (and modeling such writing in their comments) and making students rewrite their theses and dissertations until they are up to snuff.
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What is the best Instructional Design Model (IDM) to follow when designing an AR learning app for language acquisition for non speakers age (23-30)?
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Hi Eshrak,
This is an interesting question and as any interesting question, there is no straightforward answer to it. The ID models that may fit (partially) are many and may range from the "canonical" instructional systems design ADDIE model (needs analysis, design, development, implementation, evaluation) to include rapid prototyping (AKA, rapid application development) and D3(data-driven development). The latter full advantage of data and machine learning. In 2017 van Merriënboer and Kirschner published a book on instructional design of training programs for complex learning which including courses, curricula, or environments(e.g. AI). This is the full citation: Van Merriënboer, J. J., & Kirschner, P. A. (2017). Ten steps to complex learning: A systematic approach to four-component instructional design. Routledge.
You may also find relevant the following summary of the empirical literature on the elements of effective design of computer-based interventions:
Mayer, R.E. (2008). Applying the science of learning: Evidence-based principles for the design of multimedia instruction. American psychologist, 63(8), p.760.
Kim, Y., & Baylor, A. L. (2016). Research-based design of pedagogical agent roles: A review, progress, and recommendations. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 26(1), 160-169.
Please let me know if you have more questions.
Best,
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According to Noam Chomsky, "the Martian language might not be so different from human language after all.”  And, "if a Martian visited Earth, it would think we all speak dialects of the same language, because all terrestrial languages share a common underlying structure” — he must mean "universal grammar."  Others also believe that since the laws of the universe are supposedly the same everywhere, the language alien civilizations use might be fundamentally similar.  Stephen Krashen, on the other hand, wrote "It is possible that alien language will be completely different from human languages." Do you think alien language would be similar to or different from human language?  
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Quite an appealing discussion! Any postulates on the topic can be only speculative until we finally meet an alien race. However, literature, and more specifically, SF, has contributed some invaluable ideas. The Encyclopedia of Fictional and Fantastic Languages by Tim Conley and Stephen Cain gather loads of such examples.
For instance, Ted Chiang's Heptapod A, and Heptapod B. The former, as described in the novella, sounds like "a wet dog shaking the water out of its fur" (119), that is, an unpronounceable sound for human physiology. The latter, in turn, was so different that enabled its speakers to realise time in a non-linear way.
There are also cases like the Kesh language, describe in Ursula Le Guin's Always Coming Home that is more phonetically similar to human languages but quite distinct when it comes to grammar, which also happens because of physiological differences between humans and the aliens.
Most of the cases to point into one direction: if the alien species are physiologically similar to humans, so are their languages; whereas if the aliens' physical buildup is different, so is their language. As Michael W. Marek has mentioned, the unimaginably different culture the alien races might have developed over millennia of existence may cause quasi-untranslatable languages - we can already see similar cases in human languages. That makes total sense, in my opinion.
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Our language is the origin and the building mean of formal languages of math and physics. Artificial intelligence mashines creates even their own language.
Are there research to create new languages to create new science or to simplify and make more understandable the current science? Or is it just my fantasy? Maybe if a man can see, say in ifrared range then he could invent new words? Maybe we should go in this direction?
How will one create new language describing our world and qualitatively different from the today one? Maybe we should study other creatures likes delphines?
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Yes, we can make science more clear and powerful with new language, but we can't neglect English because English currently plainly settled as the principle language of universal logical correspondence, specialists keep on distributing their work in different dialects than English too.We encourage mainstream researchers to attempt to handle this issue and propose potential methodologies both for incorporating non-English scientific knowledge viably and for upgrading the multilingualism of new and existing information accessible just in English for the clients of such learning.
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Dear RG Colleagues,
I need a reference(s) that I can cite in a research paper that will support the commonly accepted claim: it is easier to learn a foreign language that is linguistically similar to our native language (or our second/third language that we already know).
Thank you!
Monika
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Hakan Ringbom's (2007) Cross-linguistic Similarity in Foreign Language Learning is devoted to this issue. He mentions that the degree of congruence between the systems determines how much facilitation there will be in language learning.
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When, where, and by whom were they implemented? Why do you think they were successful?
Centuries of linguistic imposition associated with colonial expansion, followed by the monolingual policies of governments seeking to create national identities, and more recently the global expansion of corporate power and communications networks, have taken their toll on many languages, to the point where some have become extinct and others are faced with the challenge of revitalizing themselves to avoid extinction. Some language communities have had more success than others in meeting this challenge and fortifying their mother tongues. I am interested in reading more about these efforts, and I think that the diverse, multicultural composition of ResearchGate makes it an ideal forum for discussing this topic.
I am attaching the English version of the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights (Barcelona, 1996) as an initial contribution to the discussion.
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Psycholinguistics/Hemispheric Lateralization of Language
ontents
  • 1 Introduction
  • 2 The History of Discoveries
    • 2.1 Jean Baptiste Bouillaud and Simon Alexandre Ernest Aubertin
    • 2.2 Paul Broca
    • 2.3 Carl Wernicke
  • 3 Methods of Assessing Lateralization
    • 3.1 Lesion Studies
    • 3.2 Split Brain Studies
    • 3.3 Wada test
    • 3.4 Functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography
    • 3.5 Electrical stimulation, TMS and Imaging
  • 4 Cerebral Dominance: Language Functions of The Left and Right Hemispheres
  • 5 Anatomical Asymmetries
  • 6 Proposed Correlations
    • 6.1 Handedness
    • 6.2 Sex Differences
    • 6.3 Sign Language and Bilingualism
    • 6.4 Culture and Language Lateralization
  • 7 Reorganization following brain injury
  • 8 Learning Exercise: 8 Questions on Hemispheric Language Lateralization
  • 9 References
Introduction
Hemispheric lateralization refers to the distinction between functions of the right and left hemispheres of the brain. If one hemisphere is more heavily involved in a specific function, it is often referred to as being dominant (Bear et al., 2007). Lateralization is of interest with regards to language, as it is believed that language is a heavily lateralized function: certain aspects of language are found to be localized in the left hemisphere, while others are found in the right, with the left hemisphere most often dominant. This was initially proposed by early lesion-deficit models and studies with split-brain patients, and has been shown in more recent years through tests like the Wada test and imaging studies. There have been studies which show that there are anatomic asymmetries located near and around the regions associated with language, and each hemisphere has shown to play its own but separate role in the production and comprehension of speech. The hemispheric lateralization of language functions has been suggested to be associated with both handedness, sex, bilingualism, sign-language, and a variance amongst cultures. It has also been proposed that a reorganization occurs following brain injury that involves a shifting of lateralized function, as long as the injury occurs early in life.
The History of Discoveries
Jean Baptiste Bouillaud and Simon Alexandre Ernest Aubertin
French physician Jean Baptiste Bouillaud (1796-1881) was one of the earliest proponents of hemispheric language lateralization. On February 21, 1825, Bouillaud presented a paper to the Royal Academy of Medicine in France which suggested that, because so many human tasks are performed using the right hand (such as writing), the left hemisphere might be the in control of that hand. This observation implies that language, at the core of writing, would be localized in the left hemisphere. It was already known at this time that motor function was primarily controlled by the hemisphere ipsilateral to the side of the body through lesion studies. Bouillaud also proposed that speech is localized in the frontal lobes, a theory that was carried on by Bouillaud’s son-in-law Simon Alexandre Ernest Aubertin (1825-1893), who went on to work with famed French neurologist Paul Broca in 1861. Together, Aubertin and Broca examined a patient with a left frontal lobe lesion who had lost nearly all ability to speak; this case and several others similar to it became the basis behind the earliest theories of language lateralization.
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Paul Broca, image obtained from Clower, W. T., Finger, S. (2001)
Paul Broca
French neurologist Paul Broca (1824-1880) is often credited as being the first to expound upon this theory of language lateralization. In 1861, a 51-year-old patient named Leborgne came to Broca; Leborgne was almost completely unable to speak and suffered from cellulitis of the right leg. Leborgne was able to comprehend language but was mostly unable to produce it. He responded to almost everything with the word “tan” and thus came to be known as Tan. Broca theorized that Tan must have a lesion of the left frontal lobe, and this theory was confirmed in autopsy when Tan died later that year (Bear et al., 2007). In 1863, Broca published a paper in which he described eight cases of patients with damage to the left frontal lobe, all of whom had lost their ability to produce language, and included evidence of right frontal lesions having little effect on articulate speech (Bear et al., 2007). These findings led Broca to propose, in 1864, that the expression of language is controlled by a specific hemisphere, most often the left (Bear et al., 2007). “On parle avec l’hemisphere gauche,” Broca concluded (Purves et al., 2008)- we speak with the left hemisphere.
Carl Wernicke
German anatomist Carl Wernicke (1848-1904) is also known as an early supporter of the theory of language lateralization. In 1874, Wernicke found an area in the temporal lobe of the left hemisphere, distinct from that which Broca had described, which disrupted language capabilities (Bear et al., 2007). He then went on to provide the earliest map of left hemisphere language organization and processing.
Methods of Assessing Lateralization
Lesion Studies
A good deal of what we know about language lateralization comes from studying the loss of language abilities following brain injury (Bear et al., 2007). Aphasia, the partial or complete loss of language abilities occurring after brain damage, is the source of much of the information on this subject (Bear et al., 2007). As shown in the studies of Bouillaud, Aubertin, Broca and Wernicke described above, lesion studies combined with autopsy reports can tell us a a lot about the localization of language, which ultimately has supplied information on lateralization. Lesion studies have shown that, not only is the left cerebral hemisphere most often dominant for language, but also that the right hemisphere generally is not, as lesions in the right hemisphere rarely disturb speech and language function (Bear et al., 2007).
The dangers of using lesion studies are, of course, that they may overemphasize the relevance of particular localized areas and their associated functions. The connection between brain regions and behaviours is not always simple, and is often based on a larger network of connections. This is shown in the fact that the severity of an individual’s aphasia is often related to the amount of tissue damaged around the lesion itself (Bear et al., 2007). It is also known that there is a difference in the severity of the deficit depending on whether the area was removed surgically, or was caused by stroke. This is the case because strokes affect both the cortex and the subcortical structures; this is due to the location of the middle cerebral artery, which supplies blood to the areas associated with language, as well as involvement of the basal ganglia, and is often the cause of stroke. As such, surgically produced lesions tend to have milder effects than those resulting from stroke (Bear et al., 2007).
File:Splitbrain.jpg
An example of a study involving language in a split-brain patient. The individual says he does not see anything, because the dominant left hemisphere cannot "speak". Image obtained from Experiment Module: What Split Brains Tell Us About Language
Split Brain Studies
Studies of patients who have had commissurotomies (split-brain patients) have provided significant information about language lateralization. Commissurotomy is a surgical procedure in which the hemispheres are disconnected by cutting the corpus callosum, the massive bundle of 200 million axons connecting the right and left hemisphere (Bear et al., 2007). Following this procedure, almost all communication between the hemispheres is lost, and each hemisphere then acts independently of the other. What is striking about split-brain patients with regards to the study of language lateralization is that a word may be presented to the right hemisphere of a patient whose left hemisphere is dominant, and when the patient is asked to name the word they will say that nothing is there. This is because, although the right hemisphere “saw” the word, it is the left hemisphere which “speaks.” If that same word is presented to the left hemisphere, the patient is able to verbalize the response (Bear et al., 2007). As such, split-brain patients have presented substantial evidence that language function is generally lateralized in the left hemisphere.
Wada test
The Wada test was created by Juhn Wada at the Montreal Neurological Institute in 1949, and was designed specifically to study lateralization. A fast-acting barbiturate such as sodium amytal is injected into the carotid artery on one side (although current procedures prefer to use a catheter which is inserted into the femoral artery), and is then transported to the cerebral hemisphere on the opposite side. It then serves to anaesthetize that side of the brain for approximately 10 minutes, after which it begins to wear off and the functions which were disrupted by the anaesthetic gradually return, often displaying aphasic errors (Bear et al., 2007; Wada and Rasmussen, 1960). During the time in which the patient is anaesthetized, he or she is assessed on their ability to use language. If the left hemisphere is anaesthetized and is the dominant hemisphere, the patient loses all ability to speak, whereas if the left hemisphere is anaesthetized but the right hemisphere is dominant, the patient will continue to speak throughout the procedure (Bear et al., 2007).
In a study published in 1977, Brenda Milner used the Wada test to demonstrate that 98% of right-handed people and 70% of left-handed people have a dominant left hemisphere with regards to language and speech function. Her results also showed that 2% of right-handed people have a dominant right hemisphere, which is the same percentage of patients that display aphasia following a lesion to the right hemisphere (Branch et al., 1964).
This procedure is also used prior to brain surgery in order to determine the dominant hemisphere, so as to avoid removal of an area associated with speech and language.
Functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography
Functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (fTCD) is a non-invasive method for examining event-related changes in cerebral blood flow velocity in the middle cerebral arteries(Knecht et al., 1998). This technique can reliably assess which hemisphere is dominant and to what extent, which regards to language lateralization. Studies using fTCD have shown a linear relationship between handedness and language (Knecht et al., 2000).
Electrical stimulation, TMS and Imaging
Electrical stimulation was pioneered by Wilder Penfield and his colleagues at the Montreal Neurological Institute in the 1930s, and helped to identify certain lateralized areas associated with speech and language. Electrical stimulation is the application of an electrical current directly to the cortical tissue of a patient who is conscious. Penfield found that stimulating the left frontal or temporal regions of the left hemisphere with an electrical current accelerated the production of speech. He also found that stimulation can cause inhibition in complex functions like language, as applying a current to the areas associated with speech production in the left hemisphere while the patient is engaged in speech serves to disrupt this behaviour (Penfield, 1963). This procedure is performed during surgery while the skull is removed, and as such it is not a commonly used method of assessment.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive procedure, often combined in studies with MRI, which has helped to map the regions associated with speech, showing lateralization to be dominant in the left hemisphere. TMS has also shown that, following brain injury, it is more likely that it is the tissue surrounding the lesion that acts in a compensatory way rather than the opposite hemisphere providing compensation. The major drawback of TMS is, of course, the fact that the magnetic stimulation must pass through the scalp, skull, and meninges before stimulating the brain region of choice.
Imaging studies have proven to be incredibly useful in determining lateralization of language abilities. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) have been able to show the complex circuitry associated with speech and language; they have also proven to be consistent with the findings from previous lesion studies, as well as Penfield’s electric stimulation (Bear et al., 2007). There has been some controversy regarding bilateral activation shown in fMRI studies, the reasons unknown, however it has been suggested that perhaps the right hemisphere is involved in aspects of speech that are not measured by such tests as the Wada procedure (Bear et al., 2007). A significant finding is that fMRI results during developmental years show activation during speech and the use of language mainly in the left hemisphere, providing further evidence in support of left hemisphere dominance (Bear et al., 2007).
Cerebral Dominance: Language Functions of The Left and Right Hemispheres
The perisylvian cortex of the left hemisphere is involved in language production and comprehension, which is why it is often referred to as dominant, or said to "speak" (Ojemann, G. A., 1991; Purves et al., 2008). Roger Sperry and his colleagues’ split-brain studies have shown that the left hemisphere is also responsible for lexical and syntactic language (grammatical rules, sentence structure), writing and speech (Purves at al., 2008). Other aspects of language which are thought to be governed in most people by the left hemisphere include audition of language-related sounds, recognition of letters and words, phonetics and semantics.
The right hemisphere, though generally not dominant in terms of linguistic ability, has its role in the use of language. Split-brain studies present evidence that, despite the right hemisphere having no “speech,” it is still able to understand language through the auditory system. It also has a small amount of reading ability and word recognition. Lesion studies of patients who have right hemisphere lesions show a reduction in verbal fluency and deficits in the understanding and use of prosody. Patients who have had their right hemisphere surgically removed (hemispherectomy) show no aphasia, but do show less obvious deficiencies in areas such as verbal selection and understanding of metaphor. It has thus been concluded that the right hemisphere is most often responsible for the prosodic and emotional elements of speech and language (Purves et al., 2008).
Anatomical Asymmetries
The structural differences between the right and left hemisphere may play a role in the lateralization of language. In the nineteenth century, anatomists observed that the left hemisphere’s Sylvian fissure (lateral sulcus) is longer and less steep than that of the right (Bear et al., 2007). In 1980, Graham Ratcliffe and his colleagues used evidence of this asymmetry of the Sylvian fissure, shown in carotid angiogram, combined with results of Wada testing, and found that individuals with speech regions located in the left hemisphere had a mean difference of 27 degrees in the angle of the blood vessels leaving the posterior end of the Sylvian fissure, while those with language located in the right hemisphere had a mean angle of zero degrees.
File:Planum temporale.jpg
Asymmetry of the planum temporale. Image obtained from Labspace:Understanding Dyslexia
In the 1960s, Norman Geschwind and his colleagues at Harvard Medical School found that the planum temporale, the superior portion of the temporal lobe, is larger in the left hemisphere in almost two thirds of humans (Geschwind & Levitsky, 1968), an observation which was later confirmed with MRI (Bear et al., 2007; Purves et al., 2008). This asymmetry exists even in the brain of the human fetus (Bear et al., 2007). The correlation of this asymmetry with the left hemisphere’s language dominance is refuted by many due to the fact that 67% of people show this structural asymmetry, while 97% show left hemispheric dominance. Another problem which exists in examining asymmetry of the planum temporale is how the anterior and posterior borders of this region are defined, and the fact that investigators differ in this definition. This is especially a problem when the transverse gyrus of Heschl, used to mark the anterior of the planum temporale, appear in double (which is not unusual). There are differing opinions as to whether or not the second transverse gyrus should be defined as being within the planum temporale, or outside of it (Beardon, A. A., 1997).
Proposed Correlations
Handedness
The correlation between handedness and hemispheric lateralization is described in the results of the Wada test, described above. The majority of the population is right handed (approximately 90%), and the Wada test results propose that 93% of people’s left hemisphere is dominant for language (Bear et al., 2007). A linear relationship between handedness and langage has been shown using fTCD in a study done by Knecht et al. (2008); their findings show an 27% incidence for right hemisphere dominance in their group of left-handers, a finding consistent with the notion of there being a linear relationship between handedness and incidence of right hemisphere dominance in left-handers (Knecht et al., 2000). This study used a word generation task, and admits that perhaps a measurement of prosody or other such suspected right hemisphere functions may have a different relationship with handedness (Knecht et al., 2000). It is also true that correlation does not necessarily imply causation, and it is also suggested that there is no direct relationship between handedness and language at all, as the majority of left-handers also have their language lateralized in the left hemisphere (Purves et al., 2008). It is, however, a physical example of functional asymmetry, and it is certainly possible that a more substantial connection between handedness and language will be found.
Sex Differences
The tendency for women to score higher than men on language-related tasks is perhaps the result of the fact that women also tend to have a larger corpus callosum than men, indicating more neural connections between the right and left hemispheres. fMRI studies show that women have more bilateral activation than men when performing rhyming tasks, and PET studies show that women have more bilateral activation than men during reading tasks. Perhaps the bilateral activation implies the use of what are thought to be right hemisphere language abilities, such as prosody and intonation. Research has also shown that women have a greater ability to recover from left hemisphere brain damage; the evidence provided by the imaging studies in combination with the results of recovery following injury have led to the controversial suggestion that language is more unilateral in men than in women.
Sign Language and Bilingualism
Sign language has shown to be lateralized in the left hemisphere of the brain, in the left frontal and temporal lobes. This is known through the use of lesion studies, in which the patients had left hemisphere lesions in the areas associated with language which impaired their ability to sign, while right hemisphere lesions in the same areas show no linguistic deficit (Hickock et al., 1998). Lesions in the right hemisphere of signers did, however, show a limited use of spatial information encoded iconically (which is when the sign is similar-looking to its referent). This is in keeping with the belief that visuo-spatial ability is a right hemisphere function and suggests that the role of the right hemisphere in sign language is in the non-linguistic features of sign language.
Bilingualism is thought to be an overlapping of populations of neurons corresponding to each language, all of which are located in the frontal and temporal regions of the left hemisphere associated with speech comprehension and speech production.
Culture and Language Lateralization
When thinking of language there is a tendency to focus on that language in which you think, however it has been proposed that lateralization of language functions can vary from culture to culture. Asian languages show more bilateral activation during speech than European languages, likely because Asian languages employ a far greater use of right hemisphere abilities, for example prosody, and the use of spatial processing for the more “pictorial” Chinese characters; Native American languages also show a good deal of bilateral activity.
Reorganization following brain injury
Studies have been done following brain injury to determine the level of recovery of language and speech ability, and whether or not recovery is based on lateralized function. Bryan Woods and Hans-Leukas Teuber looked at patients with prenatal and early postnatal brain injury located in either the right or left hemisphere and drew several conclusions. First, if the injury occurs very early, language ability may survive even after left hemisphere brain damage. Second, they found that an appropriation of language regions by the right hemisphere is responsible for the survival of these abilities, but because of this there is a tendency for visuo-spatial ability to be diminished. Third, right hemisphere lesions have the same effect in prenatal and early postnatal patients as they do in adults. Brenda Milner and Ted Rasmussen used the Wada test to determine that early brain injury can cause either left, right or bilateral speech dominance, and that those who retained left hemisphere dominance had damage that was not in either the anterior (Broca’s) or posterior (Wernicke’s) speech zone. Those whose dominance shifted to the right hemisphere most often had damage to these areas. Milner and Rasmussen also found that brain damage which occurs after the age of 5 does not cause a shift in lateralization but rather reorganizes within the hemisphere, potentially employing surrounding areas to take responsibility for some aspects of speech.
In patients who have had hemispherectomy of the left hemisphere, the right hemisphere can often gain considerable language ability. When performed in adulthood, speech comprehension is usually retained (though speech production suffers severe deficits); reading capability is small, and there is usually no writing capability at all.
Learning Exercise: 8 Questions on Hemispheric Language Lateralization
1. In terms of hemispheric lateralization and split-brain patients (individuals which have had commissurotomies), if the word “pencil” was presented to the right field of vision of a split-brain patient and he/she was asked to report what they had seen, the patient would respond:
a) by selecting a pencil with the contralateral hand
b) by saying the word “pencil”
c) by saying “nothing is there”
d) by selecting a pencil with the ipsilateral hand
2. The left hemisphere is responsible for all aspects of syntax, except parsing. True or false?
3. What is the structural evidence given to explain the fact that women tend to score higher than men on language-related tasks? What implications might this have on gender differences in patients with aphasia?
4. What 3 conclusions did Bryan Woods and Hans-Leukas Teuber draw regarding the reorganization of language ability following brain injury? Would there be differences in such reorganization in people who are hearing impaired?
5. Through what anatomical system is the right hemisphere able to understand language? What happens to language ability following a removal of the right hemisphere? In what ways do individuals who have had their right hemisphere removed differ from split-brain patients?
6. What were the symptoms of the patient “Tan” which, when presented to neurologist Paul Broca in 1861, propelled Broca to his theory regarding hemispheric language lateralization? Based on current methods of assessment, would Broca's theory still be considered valid today? Why or why not?
7. Which type of study would be best used in order to assess anatomical asymmetry and why?
8. Which type of study is most useful in assessing the connection between hemispheric language lateralization and handedness, and why?
References
Beaton, A. A. (1997). The Relation of Planum Temporale Asymmetry and Morphology of the Corpus Callosum to Handedness, Gender, and Dyslexia: A Review of the Evidence. Brain and Language 60, 255–322
Bear, M. F., Connors, B. W., Paradiso, M. A. (2007). Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain, 3rd edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins: USA.
Branch, C., Milner, B., Rasmussen, T. (1964). Intracarotid Sodium Amytal for the Lateralization of Cerebral Speech Dominance. Journal of Neurosurgery, Vol. 21, No. 5, pp 399-405.
Clower, W. T., Finger, S. (2001). Discovering Trepanation: The Contribution of Paul Broca. Neurosurgery, Vol. 49, No. 6, pp 1417-1426.
Geschwind, N., Levitsky, W. (1968). Human Brain: Left-Right Asymmetries in Temporal Speech Region. Science, New Series, Vol. 161, No. 3837, pp. 186-187.
Hickok, G., Bellugi, U., Klima, E. S. (1998). The neural organization of language: evidence from sign language aphasia. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp 129-136.
Jay, T. B. (2003). The Psychology of Language. Prentice Hall: New Jersey, USA.
Knecht, S., Deppe, M., Ebner, A., Henningsen, H., Huber, T., Jokeit, H, Ringelstein, E.-B. (1998). Noninvasive Determination of Language Lateralization by Functional Transcranial Doppler Sonography : A Comparison With the Wada Test. Stroke, Vol. 29, pp 82-86.
Knecht, S., Deppe, M., Drager, B., Bobe, L., Lohmann, H., Ringelstein, E.-B., Henningsen, H. (2000). Language lateralization in healthy right-handers. Brain, Vol. 123, pp 74-81.
Kolb, B., Whishaw, I. Q. (2009). Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology, 6th edition. Worth Publishers: USA.
Ojemann, G. A. (1991). Cortical Organization of Language. The Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 7, pp 2281-2287.
Penfield, W. (1963). The Brain's Record of Auditory and Visual Experience. Brain, Vol. 86, No. 4, pp. 595-696.
Purves, D., Augustine, G. J., Fitzpatrick, D., Hall, W. C., LaMantia, A., McNamara, J. O., White, L. E. (2008). Neuroscience, 4th edition. Sinauer Associates, Inc.: Massachusetts, USA.
Wada, J., Rasmussen, T. (1960). Intracarotid Injection of Sodium Amytal for the Lateralization of Cerebral Speech Dominance Experimental and Clinical Observations. Journal of Neurosurgery, Vol. 17, No. 2.
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With a group of other teachers, I am currently writing course syllabuses for various (Common European Framework of Reference) CEFR levels. My view is that I can't include all the contents of a given CEFR level in a course but the essentials. However, other teachers disagree and say I should include everything, even when those contents will not be explicitly taught.
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This is a very interesting point you're making. Regarding CEFR, as it is stated in the name, is a reference and not concrete. Hence, some overlap between bands. I would be more willing to give students a copy of the CEFR chart for them to refer to throughout the course to see what they are doing. As mentioned by Sandy Arief, this would be a great place to start. Good luck. https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/Images/126011-using-cefr-principles-of-good-practice.pdf
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Hello,
I am looking for literature or research that focuses on how different structural or agency-based factors influence the strengthening of different language hierarchies in school settings.
We conducted some research on Hungarian language teaching for Hungarian minority students in Romanian language schools. The short story is the following. These classes are optional and the curriculum and how they need to be organized are not clear and in this context seemingly the goals formulated by teachers (language revitalization, Hungarian as a basic element of Hungarian identity for students) are not in concordance with the actual language teaching practices and the teachers', schools' and students' attitudes toward the language, and through this teachers unintendedly reify the lack of importance or asymmetry between Romanian and Hungarian languages.
So can you suggest some literature that could help me contextualize or findings?
I am familiar with Shohamy's Hidden language strategies, Tollefson's book on inequalities and some of Ricento's work.
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Hi , in my paper on assessment policy change- The Challenges of Implementing Assessment Policy Change and the Mitigating Factors for Success at Schools in Malaysia, I relied on Halasz (2002); Fullan, (2005); Priestley (2005), Priestley et al (2010). In describing teachers' reaction to change and reform where they feel professionally marginalized, dis-empowered and afflicted by bureaucracy, I relied on sources from Ball (2008); Goodson (2003); and Levin, 2008. Though I did not specifically zoom in on language, it is part of the overall context. I think you will these literature indirectly useful.
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Monika
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What is the name of the language used in social media?
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Hello Karolina,
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Thanks Lisa
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sometimes
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I need some background reading for Israel Palestine conflict, on the lines of identity crisis. Doing a comparative research for on Identity and Language issues Thank you.
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Hi There, I was actually involved in some research on this theme looking at identity formation within the context of the conflict on Twitter, I've some quite good sources available and the research may be of interest to you - do let me know if you have any questions and I'd be happy to help: https://arrow.dit.ie/icr/vol16/iss1/8/ We also got some media coverage for the paper, which may give a quick insight into our focus: Jerusalem Post: https://www.jpost.com/Blogs/Conflict-and-Technology/Portraying-Israeli-and-Palestinian-Identities-on-Twitter-565928 London School of Economics: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2018/09/22/portraying-israeli-and-palestinian-identities-on-twitter/ Political Studies association: https://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/blog/portraying-israeli-and-palestinian-identities-twitter
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