scholarly journals The Cognitive Foundation of Post-colonial Englishes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Dynamic Model ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Syntactic Theory ◽  
Language Variety ◽  
The World ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
New Research ◽  
Model Approach

Varieties of English are spoken all over the world from Africa to Asia, from Europe to America. In addition to its use as a foreign language, English in many of these countries is a first or second language variety that initially arose in a colonial setting. Currently, the most influential sociolinguistic model for the evolution of these 'Post-Colonial Englishes' is the Dynamic Model. In this Element, I outline how Construction Grammar, the most prominent cognitive syntactic theory, can provide a cognitive foundation for the assumptions made by the Dynamic Model. As I shall argue, Construction Grammar naturally complements the Dynamic Model and, in addition to that, a 'Constructionist Grammar Approach to the Dynamic Model' approach generates new research questions concerning the productivity of syntactic patterns across Dynamic Model phases.

scholarly journals On the Assumptions That We Make About the World Around Us: A Conceptual Framework for Feature Transformation Effects

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan De Houwer ◽  
Juliette Richetin ◽  
Sean Hughes ◽  
Marco Perugini
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Feature Transformation ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
Spontaneous Trait Inferences ◽  
Trait Inferences ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
New Research ◽  
Object Features

Various phenomena such as halo effects, spontaneous trait inferences, and evaluative conditioning have in common that assumptions about object features (e.g., whether a person is intelligent or likeable) are influenced by other object features (e.g., whether that person is attractive or co-occurs with other liked persons). Surprisingly, these phenomena have rarely been related to each other, most likely because different phenomena are described using different terms. To overcome this barrier, we put forward a conceptual framework that can be used to describe a wide range of these phenomena. After introducing the four core concepts of the framework, we illustrate how it can be applied to various phenomena. Doing so helps to reveal similarities and differences between those phenomena, thus improving communication and promoting interactions between different areas of research. Finally, we illustrate the generative power of the framework by discussing some of the new research questions that it highlights.

scholarly journals Rethinking the toponymic politics in Belarus in the 20–21 centuries: toward the post-colonial perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-15
Author(s):  
Sergei Basik
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Local Population ◽  
National Language ◽  
Soviet Regime ◽  
Place Names ◽  
Historical Trends ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Language History ◽  
The World

The article explores the historical trends and patterns in the politics of space in toponymic landscapes of Soviet and postSoviet Belarus through the prism of critical toponymy and the post-colonial theoretical approach. This work aims to reveal the colonial essence of the toponymic politics and policies in Belarus during the Soviet era and explore the unique national (post) colonial context of the post-independent place names. Based on the idea of methodological convergence of post-colonial and post-socialist paradigms, this article analyzes the “top-down” hegemonic toponymic practices implemented by the Soviet regime in Belarus in comparison with the place name policies of the colonial regimes in other parts of the world. Using the comparative analysis of historical (re)naming cases from the regional toponymic system of Belarus, the work shows that the Soviet regime used similar goals, methods, and technologies as other colonial powers. Such examples include ignoring the national language, history, and cultural traditions reflected in place names, inadequate renaming criteria and arrogant methods of choosing the new names, banalization of toponymic landscape and inconsistency in renaming, removing the Belarusian vocabulary from the toponymic landscape and inserting the foreign words and terms into the toponymic system, phonetic and grammatical mutilations of national toponyms according to the norms of the foreign language, symbolic resistance of local population toward new place names. The post-independent period can be defined by the selective post-colonial toponymic practices, which include the co-existence of the Soviet and national toponyms, symbolic (re)naming processes typical for new independent post-colonial states, and the resurrection of the ideologically motivated “toponyms-zombies” from the previous period. Therefore, the modern toponymic landscapes in Belarus can be considered post-colonial, and methodological and theoretical post-colonial perspectives on toponymic research can be applied to post-socialist states.

Models of English in the World

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edgar W. Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Dynamic Model ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Family Tree ◽  
Conceptual Frameworks ◽  
Hub And Spoke ◽  
Deterministic Theory ◽  
The World ◽  
Static Models

This chapter systematically surveys conceptual frameworks (models) that have been suggested to identify similarities between World Englishes and to classify them accordingly. The earliest suggestions along these lines were static models, which either worked out historically based relationships between national varieties, having branched off in a family-tree-like manner, or classified countries based on whether English is used as a native, second or foreign language in them. Other early categorizations emphasized the global, national or regional outreach of varieties (in “hub-and-spoke” models) or variety types based on sociolinguistic settings in communities and their resulting linguistic properties. In contrast, recent models emphasize the evolutionary or even cyclic character of varieties; these include Trudgill’s deterministic theory and, very widely accepted nowadays, Schneider’s Dynamic Model, which is broadly outlined, including a brief discussion of some applications of and reactions to it.

Tweetalige Ontwikkeling en Tweetalig Onderwijs

2011 ◽  
Vol 86 ◽  
pp. 61-70
Author(s):  
Rick de Graaff ◽  
Sharon Unsworth ◽  
Sophie ter Schure
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Bilingual Education ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Foreign Language Instruction ◽  
Afternoon Session ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Future Policy ◽  
New Research

The topic of bilingualism in education continues to generate much debate. Issues under discussion include for example how best to support the Dutch language development of multilingual children and how to successfully implement bilingual secondary education and early foreign language instruction. This paper reports upon the symposium Bilingual Acquisition and Bilingual Education which brought together key players in this debate from the fields of research, policy and teaching practice to exchange ideas and insights with a view to formulating recommendations for future policy on multilingualism as well as generating new research questions. In the morning session, the discussion concerned recent results from research on multilingual acquisition and education in a variety of contexts, and in the afternoon session, the focus lay on issues concerning policy and teaching practice. This report consists of a summary of the main issues discussed there and ends with a list of points for future attention.

Gamer Teachers

2011 ◽  
pp. 175-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Gibson ◽  
William Halverson ◽  
Eric Riedel
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Computer Games ◽  
Approaches To Teaching ◽  
Research On Teaching ◽  
The World ◽  
Improve Student Achievement ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Games And Simulations ◽  
New Research

The divergence between the generation of people who grew up before versus after computer games became ubiquitous – a new kind of digital divide - is characterized by differences in thinking patterns, perceptions about the world, approaches to challenges, evaluation of risks, and expectations about leading and interacting with other people. Some argue that because of these sorts of differences, students of today have new expectations about learning, which suggests that we need new approaches to teaching and gamer teachers (the pun is intended). This chapter outlines a potential framework for research on teaching that understands and uses the power of computer games and simulations to improve student achievement. Along the way, we raise new research questions, which we hope that you and others will help answer.

Professions in a globalizing world: Towards a transnational sociology of the professions

2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R Faulconbridge ◽  
Daniel Muzio
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Professional Work ◽  
Globalizing World ◽  
The World ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
New Research

Globalization has significant implications for the professions, with the societies and the regulators around them changing and the realities of professional work in large organizations taking on increasingly transnational dimensions. However, while there is no lack of empirical studies of the globalization of individual professions and firms, the implications of processes of globalization, reregulation and governmental rescaling for neo-Weberian sociologies of the professions has not received the same attention. This article seeks to rectify this gap in knowledge by developing a transnational neo-Weberian sociology of the professions that takes account of the rescaling of the world that the professions inhabit and the important new research questions generated about the multi-scalar influences on the forms of regulation, power and legitimacy that underlie professional projects.

History Turmoil And Politico-Cultural Conditions of the Sub-Continental Men In Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-28
Author(s):  
Gunasekaran N ◽  
Bhuvaneshwari S
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Salman Rushdie ◽  
Fiction Writing ◽  
Pluralistic Society ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Cultural Conditions ◽  
The World ◽  
Midnight's Children ◽  
First Time

Salman Rushdie remains a major Indian writer in English. His birth coincides with the birth of a new modern nation on August 15, 1947. He has been justly labelled by the critics as a post-colonial writer who knows his trade well. His second novel Midnight’s Children was published in 1981 and it raised a storm in the hitherto middle class world of fiction writing both in English and in vernaculars. Rushdie for the first time burst into the world of fiction with subversive themes like impurity, illegitimacy, plurality and hybridity. He understands that a civilization called India may be profitably understood as a dream, a collage of many colours, a blending of cultures and nationalities, a pluralistic society and in no way unitary.

New and not so new strategies in promoting integrity with particular reference to Africa

2018 ◽  
pp. 38-74
Author(s):  
Barry Rider
Keyword(s):  
World Economy ◽  
Intelligence Community ◽  
Generational Change ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The World ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Law ◽  
Financial Intelligence ◽  
New Strategies

This article is focused on exploration not merely proposed developments in and refinements of the law and its administration, but the very significant role that financial intelligence can and should play in protecting our societies. It is the contention of the author that the intelligence community at large and in particular financial intelligence units have an important role to play in protecting our economies and ensuring confidence is maintained in our financial institutions and markets. In this article the author considers a number of issues pertinent to the advancement of integrity and in particular the interdiction of corruption to some degree from the perspective of Africa. The potential for Africa as a player in the world economy is enormous. So far, the ambiguous inheritance of rapacious empires and the turmoil of self-dealing elites in post-colonial times has successfully obscured and undermined this potential. Indeed, such has been the mismanagement, selfishness and importuning that many have grave doubts as to the ability of many states to achieve an ordered transition to what they could and should be. South Africa is perhaps the best example of a society that while avoiding the catastrophe that its recent past predicted, remains racked by corruption and mismanagement. That there is the will in many parts of the continent to further stability and security by addressing the cancer of corruption, the reality is that few have remained or been allowed to remain steadfast in their mission and all have been frustrated by political self-interest and lack of resources. The key might be education and inter-generational change as it has been in other parts of the world, but only an optimist would see this coming any time soon – there is too much vested interest inside and outside Africa in keeping things much as they are! The author focuses not so much on attempting to perfect the letter of the law, but rather on improving the ways in which we administer it.

Modern Office Technology Competencies Expected of Office Technology and Management (OTM) Graduate Workers in Delta State.

2019 ◽  
pp. 81-88
Author(s):  
Ozoem Martha ◽  
Chibuike Victoria C. ◽  
Ugwunwoti Emeka P.
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Technology Competencies ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
The World ◽  
Alpha Reliability ◽  
Communication Competencies ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Level Of Significance ◽  
Descriptive Survey

This study was carried out to determine the modern office technology competencies expected of office technology and management (OTM) graduate workers by supervisors in Delta State. The study was guided by two research questions and two hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. The respondents consisted of 142 supervisors, made up of 74 heads of department and directors of government establishments, and 68 managers and directors of private establishments in the study area. Descriptive survey research design was used to conduct the study and 28 – items questionnaire were used to collect data from respondents. The instrument was validated by three experts and had a Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.77. Means with standard deviations were used to answer the research questions, while t-test was used to test the null hypotheses. The extent of supervisor‟s expectations of information processing competencies did not differ significantly based on the mean ratings of male and female supervisors of OTM graduates in government and private establishments. The findings also revealed that supervisors expect much information processing and communication competencies from the OTM graduate workers. Based on the findings and the implications, it was recommended among others that, curriculum planners, business and OTM education lecturers should ensure that the competencies required for modern office technologies are entrenched and taught in the institutions to prepare the OTM graduates for the world of work.

Platón, Einstein y el triunfo de la imaginatividad cosmológica

1998 ◽  
pp. 87-98
Author(s):  
T. M. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Model ◽  
Striking Similarity ◽  
Empirical World ◽  
The World ◽  
Modern Cosmology ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Physical Objects ◽  
Changing World

This article argues the following five claims: 1. Plato’s description of the origins of cosmos in the Timaeus is not a myth, nor something unlikely: when he called it an eikos mythos or eikos logos, he meant a likely or trustworthy account on this very subject. 2. Among the details in this account, the following are prominent and surprising: a) the world was fashioned in time, in that precise point that was the beginning of time; b) several kinds of duration can be distinguished in cosmology (mainly eternity, sempiternity, perpetuity and time); and c) space is an entity characterized by movement and tension. 3. In the Statesman, Plato repeats much the same thing, adding this time the strange notion that the universe’s circular movement is periodically reversed. 4. In spite of the important differences in detail, there is a striking similarity between Plato’s account of the origins of the world and the explanation adopted by much of modern cosmology. 5. What Plato shares with so many instances of recent thought is here termed “cosmological imaginativity”. A first section of the paper deals exclusively with the Timaeus. Claims 1 and 2a are supported by a revision of the meanings of mythos and logos, followed by brief reference and discussion of the argument at Timaeus 27d, leading to the conclusion that Plato affirms that the ever-changing world has indeed had a beginning in time. Claim 2b describes five different types of duration, corresponding to Forms, the Demiurge, Space, the [empirical] world and its contents, physical objects. The second section is concerned with the myth in the Statesman, discussing it as a parallel and describing its peculiar turn to the Timaeus’ cosmology and cosmogony, a complex spheric and dynamic model. After digressing into some important ideas in modern cosmology, touching especially on affinities of some of Einstein’s ideas with of Plato’s own, the paper closes with a discussion of cosmological imaginativity, oriented to recover and recognize fully Plato’s greatness as a cosmologist.

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