Pub Date : 2025-04-08DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101729
Xi Chen , Yunwen Su
Whether in studies of East Asian languages or in East-West comparisons, modesty has frequently been regarded as a traditional value held by the Confucianism-influenced ‘East’. However, using the tradition to explain modern speech behaviours raises the question of whether the understanding of modesty has remained the same over time. This study explores the metalanguage of modesty in historical and modern Chinese, to reveal what has indeed been inherited and what has changed in its understanding. It employs two computational methods, together with qualitative analysis, to examine corpus data where Chinese modesty lexemes, qianxu and qianxun, are used. Findings show that modesty remains to be a virtue and an interpersonal tactic at the abstract level over time. However, reciprocal and repeated practices of modesty, which were once ritualized in historical Chinese, largely ceased in modern Chinese. Self-effacement serves different sociopragmatic functions, and attention-avoidance behaviours are increasingly associated with modesty nowadays. More importantly, modesty in modern Chinese has been patterned with social qualities and practices that have not been identified in historical Chinese. The change reflects an influence of political propaganda in China.
{"title":"Modesty differs between historical and modern Chinese: A computational analysis of modesty metalinguistics","authors":"Xi Chen , Yunwen Su","doi":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101729","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101729","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Whether in studies of East Asian languages or in East-West comparisons, modesty has frequently been regarded as a traditional value held by the Confucianism-influenced ‘East’. However, using the tradition to explain modern speech behaviours raises the question of whether the understanding of modesty has remained the same over time. This study explores the metalanguage of modesty in historical and modern Chinese, to reveal what has indeed been inherited and what has changed in its understanding. It employs two computational methods, together with qualitative analysis, to examine corpus data where Chinese modesty lexemes, <em>qianxu</em> and <em>qianxun</em>, are used. Findings show that modesty remains to be a virtue and an interpersonal tactic at the abstract level over time. However, reciprocal and repeated practices of modesty, which were once ritualized in historical Chinese, largely ceased in modern Chinese. Self-effacement serves different sociopragmatic functions, and attention-avoidance behaviours are increasingly associated with modesty nowadays. More importantly, modesty in modern Chinese has been patterned with social qualities and practices that have not been identified in historical Chinese. The change reflects an influence of political propaganda in China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51592,"journal":{"name":"Language Sciences","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 101729"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143792303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-04-03DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101728
Teresa Molés-Cases , Michele I. Feist
Audio description is a mode of audiovisual translation which renders visual information, including action, accessible to the visually impaired. Because languages differ in their typical means for describing motion events (i.e. Talmy 1985; Slobin 1996a), the audio-described experience available to speakers of different languages may likewise differ, a phenomenon we have dubbed ‘thinking-for-audio-describing’ (cf. thinking-for-speaking, Slobin 1996a). This study examines information about motion events given in the German and Spanish audio-described versions of a corpus of movies aimed at children and young adults. Like English, German typically encodes information about manner in the main verb, thus providing a good contrast to Spanish, which more typically encodes information about path. The results indicate that manner-of-motion information is more varied and frequent in German audio descriptions than in Spanish ones. We argue that this is due to the combined impact of the describer's mother tongue and of the restrictions and guidelines for audio description, with the result that users of audio descriptions in different languages may be presented with different experiences of the same work.
{"title":"Feeding the imagination: Linguistic features of motion descriptions in audio-described movies","authors":"Teresa Molés-Cases , Michele I. Feist","doi":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101728","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101728","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Audio description is a mode of audiovisual translation which renders visual information, including action, accessible to the visually impaired. Because languages differ in their typical means for describing motion events (i.e. Talmy 1985; Slobin 1996a), the audio-described experience available to speakers of different languages may likewise differ, a phenomenon we have dubbed ‘thinking-for-audio-describing’ (cf. thinking-for-speaking, Slobin 1996a). This study examines information about motion events given in the German and Spanish audio-described versions of a corpus of movies aimed at children and young adults. Like English, German typically encodes information about manner in the main verb, thus providing a good contrast to Spanish, which more typically encodes information about path. The results indicate that manner-of-motion information is more varied and frequent in German audio descriptions than in Spanish ones. We argue that this is due to the combined impact of the describer's mother tongue and of the restrictions and guidelines for audio description, with the result that users of audio descriptions in different languages may be presented with different experiences of the same work.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51592,"journal":{"name":"Language Sciences","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 101728"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143760278","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-20DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101727
Chenxia Zhang
English news reports have disseminated discrete translations of the Chinese diplomatic term Mingyun Gongtongti (a community with a shared future). This study scrutinizes the numbers, contents, and attitudes of English news reports to evaluate whether and how modifications in the translation of this term changed its dissemination. A corpus of English news reports incorporating translations of this diplomatic term was constructed for this study. Subsequently, semantic network analysis, machine-based sentiment analysis, and manual analysis of affect markers in accordance with the Appraisal System were performed. The study results revealed that amendments in how the term was translated caused changes in its dissemination. The number and overall positivity of news reports increased significantly and the contents of news reports became more specific after the translation changed to a community with a shared future. However, Western news reports subtly steered the discernment of the term by their audiences. They strategically selected linguistic resources to express their concerns and display unsupportive attitudes toward the term. This positioning emanated partly from ideological differences, profit maximization motives, and geopolitical tensions. This study argues that translations of diplomatic discourses must be restricted by factors in the field of communication. The role of translation in the making of international politics through media, as well as the role played by the media in the handling of international relationships by translating terms and broadcasting their renditions, are of great significance.
{"title":"When translation meets dissemination: Translations of the Chinese diplomatic term Mìngyùn Gòngtóngtǐ in English news reports","authors":"Chenxia Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101727","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101727","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>English news reports have disseminated discrete translations of the Chinese diplomatic term <em>Mingyun Gongtongti</em> (a community with a shared future). This study scrutinizes the numbers, contents, and attitudes of English news reports to evaluate whether and how modifications in the translation of this term changed its dissemination. A corpus of English news reports incorporating translations of this diplomatic term was constructed for this study. Subsequently, semantic network analysis, machine-based sentiment analysis, and manual analysis of <em>affect</em> markers in accordance with the Appraisal System were performed. The study results revealed that amendments in how the term was translated caused changes in its dissemination. The number and overall positivity of news reports increased significantly and the contents of news reports became more specific after the translation changed to <em>a community with a shared future</em>. However, Western news reports subtly steered the discernment of the term by their audiences. They strategically selected linguistic resources to express their concerns and display unsupportive attitudes toward the term. This positioning emanated partly from ideological differences, profit maximization motives, and geopolitical tensions. This study argues that translations of diplomatic discourses must be restricted by factors in the field of communication. The role of translation in the making of international politics through media, as well as the role played by the media in the handling of international relationships by translating terms and broadcasting their renditions, are of great significance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51592,"journal":{"name":"Language Sciences","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 101727"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143682463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-19DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101726
Ruitian Li , Kanglong Liu , Andrew K.F. Cheung
This study explores translational simplification in interpreted English from American Sign Language (ASL) and subtitled English from spoken French, compared to native English speech, using a self-constructed TED Talks Comparable Intermodal Corpus. By analyzing both lexical and syntactic complexity, the findings indicate that interpreted English does not exhibit a significant reduction in lexical density compared to native English speech. In fact, interpreted English has a higher lexical density than subtitled English. However, while subtitles are simpler in terms of semantic content, they show a less pronounced reduction in lexical variation and sophistication than oral interpretations, when compared to native speech. These results are attributable to the distinct modality influences of ASL and French, combined with the condensation constraints of subtitling and the real-time processing demands of interpreting. At the syntactic level, interpreted outputs display greater phrasal coordination than subtitles, while both modalities feature higher sentence-level coordination than native speech, likely shaped by the specific constraints of the TED Talk setting. This study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the simplification phenomenon by highlighting the unique effects of intermodal transfer. It also adds to the knowledge of the distinct constraints of signed language interpreting and subtitle translation, as well as their divergent and shared patterns of information processing.
{"title":"Exploring the impact of intermodal transfer on simplification: Insights from signed language interpreting, subtitle translation, and native speech in TED talks","authors":"Ruitian Li , Kanglong Liu , Andrew K.F. Cheung","doi":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101726","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101726","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores translational simplification in interpreted English from American Sign Language (ASL) and subtitled English from spoken French, compared to native English speech, using a self-constructed TED Talks Comparable Intermodal Corpus. By analyzing both lexical and syntactic complexity, the findings indicate that interpreted English does not exhibit a significant reduction in lexical density compared to native English speech. In fact, interpreted English has a higher lexical density than subtitled English. However, while subtitles are simpler in terms of semantic content, they show a less pronounced reduction in lexical variation and sophistication than oral interpretations, when compared to native speech. These results are attributable to the distinct modality influences of ASL and French, combined with the condensation constraints of subtitling and the real-time processing demands of interpreting. At the syntactic level, interpreted outputs display greater phrasal coordination than subtitles, while both modalities feature higher sentence-level coordination than native speech, likely shaped by the specific constraints of the TED Talk setting. This study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the simplification phenomenon by highlighting the unique effects of intermodal transfer. It also adds to the knowledge of the distinct constraints of signed language interpreting and subtitle translation, as well as their divergent and shared patterns of information processing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51592,"journal":{"name":"Language Sciences","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 101726"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143643088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-19DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101725
Lei Lei
Nature documentaries are generally considered as educational. However, through delicate choices of evaluation language, they can be weapons of provoking and legitimating animal killing. Based on appraisal theory (Martin and White, 2005), this paper delves into different appraisal patterns applied in the popular nature documentary series The Blue Planet, and their functions of representing marine species. The research shows that positive attitudinal resources with a high degree of gradability are frequently employed to amuse the audience and instigate the exploitation of marine resources. The article concludes that appraisal patterns in nature documentaries mainly act as a tool for advertising animal hunting and nature resource exploration, which is inappropriate for environmental education. Corresponding suggestions are provided to improve the narration of wildlife movies so that they can better perform the role of educating the public harmonious ways of interacting with nature.
{"title":"Appraisal as a weapon of killing: an ecocritical discourse analysis of animal depiction in nature documentary series The Blue Planet","authors":"Lei Lei","doi":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101725","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101725","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nature documentaries are generally considered as educational. However, through delicate choices of evaluation language, they can be weapons of provoking and legitimating animal killing. Based on appraisal theory (Martin and White, 2005), this paper delves into different appraisal patterns applied in the popular nature documentary series <em>The Blue Planet</em>, and their functions of representing marine species. The research shows that positive attitudinal resources with a high degree of gradability are frequently employed to amuse the audience and instigate the exploitation of marine resources. The article concludes that appraisal patterns in nature documentaries mainly act as a tool for advertising animal hunting and nature resource exploration, which is inappropriate for environmental education. Corresponding suggestions are provided to improve the narration of wildlife movies so that they can better perform the role of educating the public harmonious ways of interacting with nature.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51592,"journal":{"name":"Language Sciences","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 101725"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143643083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-11DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101717
Jelle van Dijk, Lara Oral
This paper asks how neurodiverse dyadic interactions may be supported by technologies, focusing on autistic children and their non-autistic others. Autism technologies often assume autism to be a social disorder that needs ‘fixing’, which we argue invalidates the experience of autistic sensemaking. Taking an enactive, participatory sensemaking perspective, paired with an ethics of neurodiversity; we investigated how to support neurodiverse participatory sensemaking. We contribute to research on ‘Diversity Computing’ technologies, which are envisioned to both respect and build connections between diverse ways of embodied sensemaking. In a Research-through-Design study, we confronted embodied theory with lived neurodiverse experiences, in interaction with our designed artifacts. Involving autistic children, teachers, (neurodivergent) dancers and music therapists, we iteratively designed and reflected on DiaDance: a system allowing autistic children and their non-autistic others to move together to adaptive music. Designing DiaDance helped understanding the ways in which interactive technology may support participatory sensemaking as self-organizing, intersubjective sensorimotor attunement. In this, each participant is invited to engage in the interaction ‘on their own terms’. Along with the prototype, we developed a set of interaction design principles, as well as outstanding challenges. In discussion, we identify three core conceptual reframings of understanding neurodiverse social interaction and how to design for it. These reframings reorient away from designing for instruction, representation and promoting social system level norms, and towards designing for scaffolding, attunement and intersubjective dialogue. With this work, we contribute to design that does justice to a diversity of sensemaking bodies, working towards a more neuro-inclusive society.
{"title":"In support of neurodiverse participatory sensemaking","authors":"Jelle van Dijk, Lara Oral","doi":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101717","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101717","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper asks how <em>neurodiverse</em> dyadic interactions may be supported by technologies, focusing on autistic children and their non-autistic others. Autism technologies often assume autism to be a social disorder that needs ‘fixing’, which we argue invalidates the experience of autistic sensemaking. Taking an enactive, participatory sensemaking perspective, paired with an ethics of neurodiversity; we investigated how to support neurodiverse participatory sensemaking. We contribute to research on ‘Diversity Computing’ technologies, which are envisioned to both respect and build connections between diverse ways of embodied sensemaking. In a Research-through-Design study, we confronted embodied theory with lived neurodiverse experiences, in interaction with our designed artifacts. Involving autistic children, teachers, (neurodivergent) dancers and music therapists, we iteratively designed and reflected on <em>DiaDance</em>: a system allowing autistic children and their non-autistic others to move together to adaptive music. Designing DiaDance helped understanding the ways in which interactive technology may support participatory sensemaking as self-organizing, intersubjective sensorimotor attunement. In this, each participant is invited to engage in the interaction ‘on their own terms’. Along with the prototype, we developed a set of interaction design principles, as well as outstanding challenges. In discussion, we identify three core conceptual reframings of understanding neurodiverse social interaction and how to design for it. These reframings reorient <em>away</em> from designing for <em>instruction, representation</em> and promoting <em>social system level norms</em>, and <em>towards</em> designing for <em>scaffolding, attunement</em> and intersubjective <em>dialogue</em>. With this work, we contribute to design that does justice to a <em>diversity of sensemaking bodies</em>, working towards a more neuro-inclusive society.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51592,"journal":{"name":"Language Sciences","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 101717"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143592533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-04DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101716
Andrew J. Guydish , Jean E. Fox Tree
When we think of the quality of a conversation, what comes to mind? Generally, it is the content that was discussed during the conversation, with uplifting topics leading to positive experiences, and dispiriting topics leading to negative experiences. However, there is also a great deal of information that is exchanged in the process of conveying conversational content, such as how communicators get their words out, how they produce those words, and how they manage the conversations that support the exchange of content information. In this paper, we explore the possible influence of collateral signals on judgements of conversational quality. Specifically, we examine how juxtapositions, concomitants, inserts, and modifications may influence conversational quality. We provide examples of each type of collateral signal from a variety of sources, and we discuss the possible impact each signal may have on conversational quality. Based on our analysis of the examples included, we propose that collateral signals may have a direct influence on conversational quality judgements that are independent of conversational content. That is, the subjective evaluation of conversations by interlocutors may not end simply at what is said, but how it was said.
{"title":"Collateral signals and conversation quality","authors":"Andrew J. Guydish , Jean E. Fox Tree","doi":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101716","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101716","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>When we think of the quality of a conversation, what comes to mind? Generally, it is the content that was discussed during the conversation, with uplifting topics leading to positive experiences, and dispiriting topics leading to negative experiences. However, there is also a great deal of information that is exchanged in the process of conveying conversational content, such as how communicators get their words out, how they produce those words, and how they manage the conversations that support the exchange of content information. In this paper, we explore the possible influence of collateral signals on judgements of conversational quality. Specifically, we examine how juxtapositions, concomitants, inserts, and modifications may influence conversational quality. We provide examples of each type of collateral signal from a variety of sources, and we discuss the possible impact each signal may have on conversational quality. Based on our analysis of the examples included, we propose that collateral signals may have a direct influence on conversational quality judgements that are independent of conversational content. That is, the subjective evaluation of conversations by interlocutors may not end simply at what is said, but how it was said.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51592,"journal":{"name":"Language Sciences","volume":"109 ","pages":"Article 101716"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143550892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-19DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101714
Rachel Szekely
This paper presents an analysis of no and not in English nominal copular sentences, couched in the speech-act theoretical framework original to J. L. Austin's “How to talk—Some simple ways” (1953/1989). I show that these negators differ in their speech act potential in this environment, and offer an explanation for the difference in meaning found in copular sentences containing them: the combination of the predicate nominal, analyzed as a Fregean concept, with no, results in a meaning that is distinct from nominal copular sentences occurring with not, and also different from the meaning found in sentences in which no combines with a nominal argument or in the postverbal position of the existential there-sentence. This work contributes to our understanding of the relationship between predication and negation and the interpretation and use of nominal predicates.
{"title":"Frege's triangle and Austin's square: the meaning and use of no-predicates in English","authors":"Rachel Szekely","doi":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101714","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101714","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents an analysis of <em>no</em> and <em>not</em> in English nominal copular sentences, couched in the speech-act theoretical framework original to J. L. Austin's “How to talk—Some simple ways” (1953/1989). I show that these negators differ in their speech act potential in this environment, and offer an explanation for the difference in meaning found in copular sentences containing them: the combination of the predicate nominal, analyzed as a Fregean concept, with <em>no</em>, results in a meaning that is distinct from nominal copular sentences occurring with <em>not</em>, and also different from the meaning found in sentences in which <em>no</em> combines with a nominal argument or in the postverbal position of the existential <em>there</em>-sentence. This work contributes to our understanding of the relationship between predication and negation and the interpretation and use of nominal predicates.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51592,"journal":{"name":"Language Sciences","volume":"109 ","pages":"Article 101714"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143444845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-16DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101715
Chu-Ren Huang , Qingqing Zhao , Kathleen Ahrens , Zhao Wang , Yunfei Long
This study aims to resolve the ongoing debate about sensory modality embodiment found in linguistic synesthesia by proposing an empirical model: Perceived Strength of Embodiment (PSE). The perceived strength of embodiment for sensory adjectives is measured based on the sensory ratings of the adjectives in the five sensory modalities, while the perceived strength of embodiment for each sensory modality is calculated based on the PSE of all adjectives according to their dominant modalities. PSE is designed to address a salient dilemma in the widely-accepted modality-based embodiment asymmetry: that is, such asymmetry fails to predict the directionality behaviors between sensory words because each sensory word is typically associated with more than one modality, and each may have different strengths of association. Based on an analysis of sensory adjectives, we find that a lexical concept-based embodiment asymmetry better explains the data than a modality-based embodiment asymmetry and, additionally, the lexical concept-based account is supported by Mandarin synesthetic compound adjective data. In sum, this paper argues that the PSE model is an empirical approach to measuring the degree of embodiment which furthers the understanding of the role of embodiment in the linguistic conceptualization of sensory perceptions.
{"title":"Linguistic synesthesia and embodiment: A study based on Mandarin modality exclusivity norms","authors":"Chu-Ren Huang , Qingqing Zhao , Kathleen Ahrens , Zhao Wang , Yunfei Long","doi":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101715","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101715","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study aims to resolve the ongoing debate about sensory modality embodiment found in linguistic synesthesia by proposing an empirical model: Perceived Strength of Embodiment (PSE). The perceived strength of embodiment for sensory adjectives is measured based on the sensory ratings of the adjectives in the five sensory modalities, while the perceived strength of embodiment for each sensory modality is calculated based on the PSE of all adjectives according to their dominant modalities. PSE is designed to address a salient dilemma in the widely-accepted modality-based embodiment asymmetry: that is, such asymmetry fails to predict the directionality behaviors between sensory words because each sensory word is typically associated with more than one modality, and each may have different strengths of association. Based on an analysis of sensory adjectives, we find that a lexical concept-based embodiment asymmetry better explains the data than a modality-based embodiment asymmetry and, additionally, the lexical concept-based account is supported by Mandarin synesthetic compound adjective data. In sum, this paper argues that the PSE model is an empirical approach to measuring the degree of embodiment which furthers the understanding of the role of embodiment in the linguistic conceptualization of sensory perceptions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51592,"journal":{"name":"Language Sciences","volume":"109 ","pages":"Article 101715"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143422351","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-07DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2024.101705
Nara Miranda de Figueiredo , Giovanni Rolla , Guilherme Nunes de Vasconcelos
In this paper we discuss human interaction and connection in Virtual Reality (VR). We focus on knowing-in-connection (KiC), a form of participatory sense-making (PSM) in which individuals understand and influence each other's perspectives while managing their own normativities. We propose that, in humans, KiC involves existentially grasping what is at stake for others and oneself in a mutually caring relationship. Subsequently, we resort to the allusory nature of VR experiences to explore whether KiC can be fostered in VR. According to this view, there is a biological limit to VR experiences. We also draw on the enactive theory to emphasize the constitutive role of affection in cognitive processes and to consider how PSM in VR involves distributed affective qualities and body identities that modulate relationship norms and interactive asymmetries. We conclude that for linguistic bodies the existential dimension of PSM, which is proper of KiC, will most likely not be instantiated in virtual environments. For, the limitation of VR interactions is not only biological: in human interaction, the existential dimension is also affected and it cannot be fully engaged virtually.
{"title":"Participatory sense-making and knowing-in-connection in VR","authors":"Nara Miranda de Figueiredo , Giovanni Rolla , Guilherme Nunes de Vasconcelos","doi":"10.1016/j.langsci.2024.101705","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.langsci.2024.101705","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this paper we discuss human interaction and connection in Virtual Reality (VR). We focus on <em>knowing-in-connection (KiC)</em>, a form of <em>participatory sense-making (PSM)</em> in which individuals understand and influence each other's perspectives while managing their own normativities. We propose that, in humans, KiC involves existentially grasping what is at stake for others and oneself in a mutually caring relationship. Subsequently, we resort to the <em>allusory</em> nature of VR experiences to explore whether KiC can be fostered in VR. According to this view, there is a biological limit to VR experiences. We also draw on the enactive theory to emphasize the constitutive role of affection in cognitive processes and to consider how PSM in VR involves distributed affective qualities and body identities that modulate relationship norms and interactive asymmetries. We conclude that for linguistic bodies the existential dimension of PSM, which is proper of KiC, will most likely not be instantiated in virtual environments. For, the limitation of VR interactions is not only biological: in human interaction, the existential dimension is also affected and it cannot be fully engaged virtually.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51592,"journal":{"name":"Language Sciences","volume":"108 ","pages":"Article 101705"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143171007","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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