Pub Date : 2023-09-22DOI: 10.3390/languages8040226
Ramona Bongelli, Andrzej Zuczkowski, Ilaria Riccioni
Viewing conversations from an epistemic perspective involves analysing how participants navigate their knowledge, handle uncertainty, and address their lack of knowledge. This article focuses on the use of epistemic disclaimers, i.e., linguistic expressions that speakers employ to indicate uncertainty or lack of knowledge, in a collection of Italian gynaecological conversations throughout pregnancy. Specifically, the study examines the occurrences, features, and pragmatic functions of the epistemic disclaimers, with a specific focus on Non so, which is the Italian equivalent of “I don’t know” in English, the most extensively researched epistemic disclaimer. The study aims to (1) investigate the types and frequency of uncertain and unknowing epistemic disclaimers in the gynaecological corpus and (2) identify their characteristics and pragmatic functions. The primary findings indicate that epistemic disclaimers are primarily used to convey unknowledge rather than uncertainty. However, while patients use more epistemic disclaimers than doctors, they mainly use them to communicate unknowledge, whereas doctors mainly use them to express uncertainty. Regardless, their usage does not appear problematic in conversational terms since the topics for which they are used fall outside the domains of knowledge of each party.
{"title":"The Italian Epistemic Disclaimer Non so [I Don’t Know] in a Corpus of Gynaecological Interactions","authors":"Ramona Bongelli, Andrzej Zuczkowski, Ilaria Riccioni","doi":"10.3390/languages8040226","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8040226","url":null,"abstract":"Viewing conversations from an epistemic perspective involves analysing how participants navigate their knowledge, handle uncertainty, and address their lack of knowledge. This article focuses on the use of epistemic disclaimers, i.e., linguistic expressions that speakers employ to indicate uncertainty or lack of knowledge, in a collection of Italian gynaecological conversations throughout pregnancy. Specifically, the study examines the occurrences, features, and pragmatic functions of the epistemic disclaimers, with a specific focus on Non so, which is the Italian equivalent of “I don’t know” in English, the most extensively researched epistemic disclaimer. The study aims to (1) investigate the types and frequency of uncertain and unknowing epistemic disclaimers in the gynaecological corpus and (2) identify their characteristics and pragmatic functions. The primary findings indicate that epistemic disclaimers are primarily used to convey unknowledge rather than uncertainty. However, while patients use more epistemic disclaimers than doctors, they mainly use them to communicate unknowledge, whereas doctors mainly use them to express uncertainty. Regardless, their usage does not appear problematic in conversational terms since the topics for which they are used fall outside the domains of knowledge of each party.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136060521","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-21DOI: 10.3390/languages8030224
Brianna Butera
Propelled by existing research on stop consonant variability in Spanish, this pilot study provides a preliminary acoustic analysis of stop consonant lenition exhibited by speakers of six different varieties of Spanish in Latin America and Spain to explore the gradient acoustic variability in the production of /ptk/ and /bdɡ/ among speakers of different Spanish varieties. Using the acoustic correlate of relative intensity, this analysis considers the effect of various linguistic factors (phoneme, lexical stress, point of articulation, sonority) as well as the extralinguistic factor of Spanish variety on the production of stop consonants in initial, intervocalic position. Results display a higher degree of weakening among speakers of Peninsular and Insular varieties of Spanish compared with those of Latin-American varieties such as Colombian, Mexican, and Peruvian. These exploratory data support the gradient nature of consonant lenition and provide a baseline for future research on stop consonant variability across the Spanish-speaking world.
{"title":"Acoustic Variability of /ptk/ and /bdɡ/ in Spanish: A Pilot Study","authors":"Brianna Butera","doi":"10.3390/languages8030224","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030224","url":null,"abstract":"Propelled by existing research on stop consonant variability in Spanish, this pilot study provides a preliminary acoustic analysis of stop consonant lenition exhibited by speakers of six different varieties of Spanish in Latin America and Spain to explore the gradient acoustic variability in the production of /ptk/ and /bdɡ/ among speakers of different Spanish varieties. Using the acoustic correlate of relative intensity, this analysis considers the effect of various linguistic factors (phoneme, lexical stress, point of articulation, sonority) as well as the extralinguistic factor of Spanish variety on the production of stop consonants in initial, intervocalic position. Results display a higher degree of weakening among speakers of Peninsular and Insular varieties of Spanish compared with those of Latin-American varieties such as Colombian, Mexican, and Peruvian. These exploratory data support the gradient nature of consonant lenition and provide a baseline for future research on stop consonant variability across the Spanish-speaking world.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"80 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136152309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-20DOI: 10.3390/languages8030222
Yan Wang
Japanese society’s traditional gender norms are reflected by sentence-final particles (SFPs) in daily conversation. However, recently, Japanese young people have started to use gendered SFPs in “unclassical” ways. This study mainly examines the usage of the so-called “female” SFPs wa and no by male speakers. In total, 68 cases of wa (43 by male speakers and 25 by female speakers) and 84 cases of no (47 by male speakers and 37 by female speakers) usage were collected from casual conversations of Japanese college students in TalkBank, a public linguistic database. This study demonstrates that the “female” SFPs wa and no are used more frequently by male speakers than by female speakers. Different from the female speakers’ usage to soften the utterances and enhance conversational rapport, wa and no used by male speakers perform other functions. In particular, wa directly indexes self-centeredness, serving the speaker to express emotion, share personal ideas, or perform speech acts such as teasing or amae in a self-focused way, while no directly indexes truthfulness, which allows the speaker to share a story in a vivid tone, reconfirm the speaker’s prior statement, or provide the speaker’s explanation/reasoning in an assertive tone. This study suggests that the new, unconventional gender-based usages of SFPs reveal the social changes in gender dynamics in modern Japanese society, which should not be overlooked in language education.
{"title":"Unconventional Usage of Gender-Based Japanese Sentence-Final Particles: A Study of wa and no in Youth Conversations","authors":"Yan Wang","doi":"10.3390/languages8030222","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030222","url":null,"abstract":"Japanese society’s traditional gender norms are reflected by sentence-final particles (SFPs) in daily conversation. However, recently, Japanese young people have started to use gendered SFPs in “unclassical” ways. This study mainly examines the usage of the so-called “female” SFPs wa and no by male speakers. In total, 68 cases of wa (43 by male speakers and 25 by female speakers) and 84 cases of no (47 by male speakers and 37 by female speakers) usage were collected from casual conversations of Japanese college students in TalkBank, a public linguistic database. This study demonstrates that the “female” SFPs wa and no are used more frequently by male speakers than by female speakers. Different from the female speakers’ usage to soften the utterances and enhance conversational rapport, wa and no used by male speakers perform other functions. In particular, wa directly indexes self-centeredness, serving the speaker to express emotion, share personal ideas, or perform speech acts such as teasing or amae in a self-focused way, while no directly indexes truthfulness, which allows the speaker to share a story in a vivid tone, reconfirm the speaker’s prior statement, or provide the speaker’s explanation/reasoning in an assertive tone. This study suggests that the new, unconventional gender-based usages of SFPs reveal the social changes in gender dynamics in modern Japanese society, which should not be overlooked in language education.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"159 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136314086","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-20DOI: 10.3390/languages8030221
Stefania Taviano
Migration is commonly described as a threat through images of invasion and flood in Western media. Migrants and asylum seekers tend to be the target of hate speech together with other vulnerable groups and minorities, such as disabled people, and definitions and labels have precise implications in terms of social justice and human rights. Migrant is an umbrella term used to refer to a variety of people who leave their countries of origin. Out-of-quota and dubliner are further labels, together with asylum seekers. Through an interdisciplinary approach, adopting a translation perspective on social justice, I would like to focus on the ways these labelling practices affect migrants’ and asylum seekers’ lives to the point of violating their rights. A clear example is represented by the English term dublined, translated as dublinati/dublinanti into Italian, and with no translation into German. It derives from the Dublin regulations, signed in 2013 and still valid, and indicates those people who want to apply for asylum in a given country but cannot do so because their fingerprints have been taken and registered in another EU country. Classifications of this kind, combined with further categorisations, such as “ordinary” or “vulnerable”, are applied throughout EU countries and languages to determine whether asylum seekers deserve, and are thus granted, asylum or not. They are informed by a dehumanizing view of migration and translate into “bordering practices” which prevent access to reception systems and welfare services. Resistant translation practices, a new language and art activism can contribute to reversing dehumanizing practices by putting displaced people’s identities at the centre. The Sicilian artist Antonio Foresta is the author of the installation Pace Nostra, a symbolic wave made of migrants’ clothes and Caltanissetta inhabitants’ bedsheets, with both an Italian and Arabic title, which translates migration, commonly perceived as “their” drama, into “our” drama, a common human experience, leading to a common goal: peace.
{"title":"Translating Migration: Art Installations against Dehumanizing Labelling Practices","authors":"Stefania Taviano","doi":"10.3390/languages8030221","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030221","url":null,"abstract":"Migration is commonly described as a threat through images of invasion and flood in Western media. Migrants and asylum seekers tend to be the target of hate speech together with other vulnerable groups and minorities, such as disabled people, and definitions and labels have precise implications in terms of social justice and human rights. Migrant is an umbrella term used to refer to a variety of people who leave their countries of origin. Out-of-quota and dubliner are further labels, together with asylum seekers. Through an interdisciplinary approach, adopting a translation perspective on social justice, I would like to focus on the ways these labelling practices affect migrants’ and asylum seekers’ lives to the point of violating their rights. A clear example is represented by the English term dublined, translated as dublinati/dublinanti into Italian, and with no translation into German. It derives from the Dublin regulations, signed in 2013 and still valid, and indicates those people who want to apply for asylum in a given country but cannot do so because their fingerprints have been taken and registered in another EU country. Classifications of this kind, combined with further categorisations, such as “ordinary” or “vulnerable”, are applied throughout EU countries and languages to determine whether asylum seekers deserve, and are thus granted, asylum or not. They are informed by a dehumanizing view of migration and translate into “bordering practices” which prevent access to reception systems and welfare services. Resistant translation practices, a new language and art activism can contribute to reversing dehumanizing practices by putting displaced people’s identities at the centre. The Sicilian artist Antonio Foresta is the author of the installation Pace Nostra, a symbolic wave made of migrants’ clothes and Caltanissetta inhabitants’ bedsheets, with both an Italian and Arabic title, which translates migration, commonly perceived as “their” drama, into “our” drama, a common human experience, leading to a common goal: peace.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136312924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this article, we examine a specific type of Wh-Doubling (WhD) that can be observed in some Northern Lombard varieties. Differently from all the previous types of WhD described for Lombard and other Northern Italo-Romance varieties, in the phenomenon we analyze, the two wh-forms are identical and display the -ɛ morpheme. Furthermore, in all the varieties where this type of WhD is present, it is associated with the encoding of special questions and cannot be used in true requests for new information. We propose an analysis of this construction assuming a split-CP representation where the higher wh-form activates a functional projection involved in the expression of special questions. We also hypothesize that this construction derives from an interrogative cleft; if this hypothesis is correct, the formation of the -ɛ morpheme and the re-analysis of the cleft as monoclausal are the two sides of the same process.
{"title":"A Special (Question) View on Wh-Doubling in Lombard Varieties","authors":"Jacopo Garzonio, Enrico Castro, Jessica Rita Messina","doi":"10.3390/languages8030223","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030223","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we examine a specific type of Wh-Doubling (WhD) that can be observed in some Northern Lombard varieties. Differently from all the previous types of WhD described for Lombard and other Northern Italo-Romance varieties, in the phenomenon we analyze, the two wh-forms are identical and display the -ɛ morpheme. Furthermore, in all the varieties where this type of WhD is present, it is associated with the encoding of special questions and cannot be used in true requests for new information. We propose an analysis of this construction assuming a split-CP representation where the higher wh-form activates a functional projection involved in the expression of special questions. We also hypothesize that this construction derives from an interrogative cleft; if this hypothesis is correct, the formation of the -ɛ morpheme and the re-analysis of the cleft as monoclausal are the two sides of the same process.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"184 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136375954","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-19DOI: 10.3390/languages8030220
Ismael Rafaat Faraj, Twana Saadi Hamid
Previous research has shown that both input quantity and quality play a role in dual language learning. However, it is unclear whether input quantity factors (e.g., school input) and input quality factors (e.g., home media input) work similarly in the language development of bilinguals while other potential internal and external factors are controlled for. This paper addressed this issue through investigating the influence of input quantity and input quality factors, both at the individual and group levels, on morphosyntax, vocabulary size, and lexical access ability in the Kurdish-L1 and English-L2 of Kurdish–English bilingual adolescents. Data were collected via a battery of standardized and researcher-developed measures and a detailed questionnaire. The results from backward regressions revealed that higher parental Kurdish proficiency and more exposure to Kurdish input through siblings and reading activities were associated with better Kurdish morphosyntactic skill, while a larger Kurdish vocabulary size was predicted by more exposure to native-speaker input in Kurdish. Both more Kurdish input received in preschool/school and through Kurdish media were related to better lexical access ability in Kurdish. Further, more exposure to English input in preschool/school predicted better English morphosyntactic skill and a larger vocabulary size, whereas higher paternal English proficiency was associated with better lexical access ability in English. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that input quality was more important in explaining Kurdish morphosyntactic and vocabulary size skills and lexical access ability in both languages, while input quantity explained more variance in English morphosyntactic and vocabulary size skills. Out-of-class Kurdish input outweighed instructional input to a certain extent in relation to Kurdish skills and lexical access ability in English, while instructional English input was more important for English morphosyntax and vocabulary size.
{"title":"Differential Effects of Input Quantity and Input Quality on Bilingual Development: A Study with Kurdish–English Adolescents","authors":"Ismael Rafaat Faraj, Twana Saadi Hamid","doi":"10.3390/languages8030220","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030220","url":null,"abstract":"Previous research has shown that both input quantity and quality play a role in dual language learning. However, it is unclear whether input quantity factors (e.g., school input) and input quality factors (e.g., home media input) work similarly in the language development of bilinguals while other potential internal and external factors are controlled for. This paper addressed this issue through investigating the influence of input quantity and input quality factors, both at the individual and group levels, on morphosyntax, vocabulary size, and lexical access ability in the Kurdish-L1 and English-L2 of Kurdish–English bilingual adolescents. Data were collected via a battery of standardized and researcher-developed measures and a detailed questionnaire. The results from backward regressions revealed that higher parental Kurdish proficiency and more exposure to Kurdish input through siblings and reading activities were associated with better Kurdish morphosyntactic skill, while a larger Kurdish vocabulary size was predicted by more exposure to native-speaker input in Kurdish. Both more Kurdish input received in preschool/school and through Kurdish media were related to better lexical access ability in Kurdish. Further, more exposure to English input in preschool/school predicted better English morphosyntactic skill and a larger vocabulary size, whereas higher paternal English proficiency was associated with better lexical access ability in English. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that input quality was more important in explaining Kurdish morphosyntactic and vocabulary size skills and lexical access ability in both languages, while input quantity explained more variance in English morphosyntactic and vocabulary size skills. Out-of-class Kurdish input outweighed instructional input to a certain extent in relation to Kurdish skills and lexical access ability in English, while instructional English input was more important for English morphosyntax and vocabulary size.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"212 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135064006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-18DOI: 10.3390/languages8030219
Yuan Zhang, Florence Baills, Pilar Prieto
The present study assesses the effect of a three-session classroom-based training program involving singing songs with familiar melodies on second-language pronunciation and vocabulary learning. Ninety-five adolescent Chinese ESL learners (M = 14.04 years) were assigned to one of two groups. Participants learned the lyrics in English of three songs whose melodies were familiar to them either by singing or reciting the lyrics, following a native English singer/instructor. Before and after training, participants performed two vocabulary tasks (picture-naming and word meaning recall tasks) and two pronunciation tasks (word and sentence oral-reading tasks). The results revealed that although both groups showed gains in vocabulary and pronunciation after training, the singing group outperformed the speech group. These findings support the value of using songs with familiar melodies to teach second languages at the early stages of learning in an ESL classroom context.
{"title":"Singing Songs Facilitates L2 Pronunciation and Vocabulary Learning: A Study with Chinese Adolescent ESL Learners","authors":"Yuan Zhang, Florence Baills, Pilar Prieto","doi":"10.3390/languages8030219","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030219","url":null,"abstract":"The present study assesses the effect of a three-session classroom-based training program involving singing songs with familiar melodies on second-language pronunciation and vocabulary learning. Ninety-five adolescent Chinese ESL learners (M = 14.04 years) were assigned to one of two groups. Participants learned the lyrics in English of three songs whose melodies were familiar to them either by singing or reciting the lyrics, following a native English singer/instructor. Before and after training, participants performed two vocabulary tasks (picture-naming and word meaning recall tasks) and two pronunciation tasks (word and sentence oral-reading tasks). The results revealed that although both groups showed gains in vocabulary and pronunciation after training, the singing group outperformed the speech group. These findings support the value of using songs with familiar melodies to teach second languages at the early stages of learning in an ESL classroom context.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135203630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-15DOI: 10.3390/languages8030217
Wen Lu, Pui Yiu Szeto
The morpheme ‘give’ is among the most well-studied lexical items in the realm of grammaticalization. This study sets out to provide a typological and areal analysis of the distinct forms and multiple functions of ‘give’ in 27 varieties of Hui Chinese, a lesser-known group of Sinitic languages. Making use of both primary and secondary data, we have identified ten different functions of GIVE, namely (i) lexical verb ‘give’, (ii) recipient marker ‘to’, (iii) benefactive marker ‘for’, (iv) purpose marker, (v) permissive marker, (vi) passive marker, (vii) pretransitive disposal marker, (viii) allative marker, (ix) locative marker ‘at/in’, and (x) temporal marker ‘till’. The Hui varieties covered in this study generally showcase the syncretism of a minimum of five of the functions above simultaneously. Semantic extension, polygrammaticalization, and cooptation are shown to be the major mechanisms behind the polyfunctionality or polysemy sharing of the morpheme ‘give’. Our study contributes to the understanding of the role that grammaticalization, especially contact-induced grammaticalization, plays in forming linguistic areas. In addition, it casts doubt on the basicness of ‘give’ in assessing the genetic relatedness of languages in the world.
{"title":"Polyfunctionality of ‘Give’ in Hui Varieties of Chinese: A Typological and Areal Perspective","authors":"Wen Lu, Pui Yiu Szeto","doi":"10.3390/languages8030217","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030217","url":null,"abstract":"The morpheme ‘give’ is among the most well-studied lexical items in the realm of grammaticalization. This study sets out to provide a typological and areal analysis of the distinct forms and multiple functions of ‘give’ in 27 varieties of Hui Chinese, a lesser-known group of Sinitic languages. Making use of both primary and secondary data, we have identified ten different functions of GIVE, namely (i) lexical verb ‘give’, (ii) recipient marker ‘to’, (iii) benefactive marker ‘for’, (iv) purpose marker, (v) permissive marker, (vi) passive marker, (vii) pretransitive disposal marker, (viii) allative marker, (ix) locative marker ‘at/in’, and (x) temporal marker ‘till’. The Hui varieties covered in this study generally showcase the syncretism of a minimum of five of the functions above simultaneously. Semantic extension, polygrammaticalization, and cooptation are shown to be the major mechanisms behind the polyfunctionality or polysemy sharing of the morpheme ‘give’. Our study contributes to the understanding of the role that grammaticalization, especially contact-induced grammaticalization, plays in forming linguistic areas. In addition, it casts doubt on the basicness of ‘give’ in assessing the genetic relatedness of languages in the world.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135436090","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-15DOI: 10.3390/languages8030218
Julio César López Otero
Along with declaratives and interrogatives, imperatives are one of the three major clause types of human language. In Spanish, imperative verb forms present poor morphology, yet complex syntax. The present study examines the acquisition of (morpho)syntactic properties of imperatives in Spanish among English-speaking heritage speakers of Spanish. With the use of production and acceptability judgment tasks, this study investigates the acquisition of verb morphology and clitic placement in canonical and negative imperatives. The results indicate that the acquisition of Spanish imperatives among heritage speakers is shaped by the heritage speakers’ productive vocabulary knowledge, lexical frequency and syntactic complexity. Indeed, most of the variability in their knowledge was found in their production of negative imperatives: heritage speakers show a rather stable receptive grammatical knowledge while their production shows signs of variability modulated by the heritage speakers’ productive vocabulary knowledge and by the lexical frequency of the verb featured in the test items.
{"title":"Imperatives in Heritage Spanish: Lexical Access and Lexical Frequency Effects","authors":"Julio César López Otero","doi":"10.3390/languages8030218","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030218","url":null,"abstract":"Along with declaratives and interrogatives, imperatives are one of the three major clause types of human language. In Spanish, imperative verb forms present poor morphology, yet complex syntax. The present study examines the acquisition of (morpho)syntactic properties of imperatives in Spanish among English-speaking heritage speakers of Spanish. With the use of production and acceptability judgment tasks, this study investigates the acquisition of verb morphology and clitic placement in canonical and negative imperatives. The results indicate that the acquisition of Spanish imperatives among heritage speakers is shaped by the heritage speakers’ productive vocabulary knowledge, lexical frequency and syntactic complexity. Indeed, most of the variability in their knowledge was found in their production of negative imperatives: heritage speakers show a rather stable receptive grammatical knowledge while their production shows signs of variability modulated by the heritage speakers’ productive vocabulary knowledge and by the lexical frequency of the verb featured in the test items.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"57 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135437655","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-14DOI: 10.3390/languages8030213
Pilar Pérez Cañizares
The airline industry is currently responsible for more than 2% of greenhouse gas emissions, making it a major contributor to climate change and global warming. The aim of this paper is to investigate how airlines in Spanish-speaking countries communicate their position on climate change in their corporate reports and whether this has changed over the last few years. To this end, a corpus of 51 corporate reports produced by 5 different airlines between 2003 and 2020 was designed. The reports were subjected to linguistic analysis using computer processing and corpus linguistic methods. The results show large differences between the airlines in the way they communicate their relationship with climate change and suggest the existence of two phases in terms of attention paid to the issue, with a turning point in 2015/2016. In general, climate change tends to be addressed through the reporting of specific data, with limited mention of possible consequences. References to climate change tend to appear in indexes, titles, headings or literal reproductions of reporting standards. This helps to give some prominence to the issue, although there is most frequently no positioning or appraisal of the issue.
{"title":"Climate Change Discourse of Spanish-Speaking Airlines in Corporate Reports","authors":"Pilar Pérez Cañizares","doi":"10.3390/languages8030213","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030213","url":null,"abstract":"The airline industry is currently responsible for more than 2% of greenhouse gas emissions, making it a major contributor to climate change and global warming. The aim of this paper is to investigate how airlines in Spanish-speaking countries communicate their position on climate change in their corporate reports and whether this has changed over the last few years. To this end, a corpus of 51 corporate reports produced by 5 different airlines between 2003 and 2020 was designed. The reports were subjected to linguistic analysis using computer processing and corpus linguistic methods. The results show large differences between the airlines in the way they communicate their relationship with climate change and suggest the existence of two phases in terms of attention paid to the issue, with a turning point in 2015/2016. In general, climate change tends to be addressed through the reporting of specific data, with limited mention of possible consequences. References to climate change tend to appear in indexes, titles, headings or literal reproductions of reporting standards. This helps to give some prominence to the issue, although there is most frequently no positioning or appraisal of the issue.","PeriodicalId":52329,"journal":{"name":"Languages","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134911953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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