scholarly journals At the boundaries of linguistic convergence: Variation in presentational haber / haver-hi

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-68
Author(s):  
José Luis Blas Arroyo
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Method ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Normative Pressure ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
Structural Conflict

Abstract In this paper, we focus on an eventual convergence outcome (the pluralization of presentational haber/haver-hi) in the grammar of two Romance languages, Spanish and Catalan, which have been living side-by-side for centuries in Eastern Spain. Taking into account the sociolinguistic comparative method and on the basis of several representative corpora of the two languages in contact, the data from this research offer evidence that points to a notable congruence between the underlying grammars of both languages, which would, at least partially, account for a similar diffusion of these vernacular pluralizations. Moreover, some of the few cases of disagreement found can be explained on the basis of both internal (such as the existence of points of structural conflict in some verbal paradigms) and external factors (such as hypercorrection), which certain social groups particularly sensitive to normative pressure are more receptive to.

From a perceptual point of view, is there prosodic continuity between languages in contact?

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 543-572
Author(s):  
Ana Ma. Fernández Planas ◽  
Paolo Roseano ◽  
Wendy Elvira-García ◽  
Josefina Carrera Sabaté ◽  
Domingo Román Montes de Oca
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
Languages In Contact

Abstract This paper contains the results of a set of perception tests that aimed at measuring perceived prosodic distances between different Romance languages (Italian, Friulian, Sardinian, Catalan, and Spanish). Data were collected within the framework of the AMPER project. The results were obtained by means of discrimination and identification tasks where the judges were 31 native speakers of Catalan form Barcelona and the stimuli were broad focus statements and yes-no questions in the above-mentioned languages. The perceived distances are then compared with the results of a dialectometric analysis of acoustic data. This comparison shows that the perceived distances are related to acoustic differences.

Are the systems the same?

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-83
Author(s):  
Matthew Kanwit ◽  
Silvia Pisabarro Sarrió
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Method ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
Preference Task ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Although two languages in contact may contain similar structures, superficial structural similarities may abscond important differences. The comparative method critically determines whether the languages differ in relative rates of variant use, the significance of independent variables, constraint rankings, and ordering within factor groups (Poplack & Tagliamonte 2001). The study explored intensifier (i.e., degree modifier) variation between Spanish muy and bien and Catalan molt and ben “very”, as based on 84 sets of responses from bilinguals on a 24-item contextualized preference task (40 in Catalan, 44 in Spanish). Results indicated significantly higher selection of muy in Spanish than molt in Catalan. Moreover, independent variables played a greater role in Spanish, with adjective quality, animacy, and verb type all predicting intensifier selection, whereas in Catalan only adjective quality was predictive. The study provided the first variationist analysis of Catalan intensification, while also revealing key systemic differences between the two languages despite surface similarities.

scholarly journals The extent to which inscriptional evidence may serve as a source of "vulgar," i.e. spoken Latin

Linguistica ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-29
Author(s):  
Paul A. Gaeng
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Method ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Future Evolution ◽  
American Scholar ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
Real Language ◽  
Historical Comparative ◽  
The One ◽  
And Training

"Itis incumbent on Romance scholars to analyze and interpret their exceptionally full stock of linguistic material, using all methods of study at their disposal, working both backward and forward in time. Only thus will Romance linguistics be enabled to do what others expect of it: to serve not only as an end in itself but as a model and training-ground for workers in all fields of historical linguistics." Thus wrote the American scholar, Robert A. Hall, jr. some forty years ago in an essay on the recon­ struction of Proto-Romance. 1 Indeed, the researcher into the history of the Romance languages is faced with, on the one hand, the schemes of reconstruction (essentially based on the principles of the historical comparative method) and the often puzzling testimonies of reality found in the sources. Put in other terms, he has the choice of working with an abstract system represented by starred Latin forms that do not belong to any real language or the reality of the mass of postclassical written records that have come down to us to be analyzed and sifted through with a view to discovering evidences of trends toward Romance in phonology, morpho-syntax, and vocabulary. And while there are, no doubt, materials whose meaning in terms of future evolution of the Romance languages is difficult, if not impossible to discover, there is an abun­ dance of those that prelude the future. It is the attention to the future that, I believe, can give reality and life to the large number of forms collected from inscriptions, late writers, and other sources of so-called "Vulgar", i. e. non-literary Latin.

What the Study of China Can Do for Social Science

1964 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 517-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. William Skinner
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Fundamental Change ◽  
Specific Research ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
Chinese Studies ◽  
Entire Society ◽  
Great Tradition

In recent years the cry has gone up: Sinology is dead; long live Chinese studies! And in this apothegm, by contrast with its prototype, a fundamental change is implied. Whereas old-time Sinology was given shape by its tools, so that Sinological skills defined the field and became an end in themselves, Chinese studies is shaped by its subject matter and Sinological skills are but means to analytic ends. Whereas traditional Sinology fostered uncritical immersion in a single civilization, modern Chinese studies brings at least that degree of impartial detachment which the comparative method implies. Whereas Sinology focused on China's “great tradition” and strove to capture the very ethos of the literati whose works it studied, Chinese studies today attempts to encompass the entire society and cultural product of China, to study its regional “little traditions” along with the “great,” and to empathize for heuristic purposes with nonélite social groups as well as with the literati. Sinology, a discipline unto itself, is being replaced by Chinese studies, a multidisciplinary endeavor with specific research objectives. As Professor Wright has suggested, what is text for the Sinologist becomes, for the disciplinary student of China, evidence.

scholarly journals REHABILITATION ENVIRONMENT FOR THE DISABLED: CONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE CONCEPT IN SOCIOLOGY

2021 ◽  
pp. 270-281
Author(s):  
Milana I. Grigoreva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
External Factors ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
Rehabilitation Potential ◽  
Internal And External Factors ◽  
Different Levels

The article discusses the research approaches applied in sociology and the ideas of authors from other fields of scientific knowledge with regard to the problem of people with disabilities and understanding of the essence of the rehabilitation environment for them. The humanization of modern society, its orientation towards the development and activation of weakly protected social groups, traditionally considered discriminated, requires, in this regard, a rethinking of scientific approaches to the problem of the disabled and the creation of full-fledged living conditions for their functioning, including the possibility of timely reception of social services and rehabilitation technologies within the framework of rehabilitation environment. The practical absence of the concept of «rehabilitation environment for a disabled person» in modern sociological science enables us to conduct an appropriate analysis and substantiate the essence of this category based on the structural-functional, institutional, systemic, constructivist, phenomenological, and other approaches. Following the results of this analysis, we present the levels and structure of the rehabilitation environment for people with disabilities, formulate its main functions and principles, and also determine the internal and external factors that influence its functioning. We conclude that the rehabilitation environment for a disabled person is the interaction of various forms of social and rehabilitation relations based on the presence of special conditions and resources for the implementation of vital needs and rehabilitation requests focused on the actualization of the rehabilitation potential, on a decent quality of life. The main elements of the rehabilitation environment are rehabilitation institutions at different levels of management (macro-, meso-, microlevel) with clearly expressed functions of subject-object regulation, etc.

scholarly journals Prehistoric languages and human self-domestication

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-58
Author(s):  
Antonio Benítez-Burraco
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Relationships ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Human Language ◽  
The Past ◽  
Language Structure

Abstract The comparative method has enabled us to trace distant phylogenetic relationships among languages and reconstruct extinct languages from the past. Nonetheless, it has limitations, mostly resulting from the circumstance that languages also change by contact with unrelated languages and in response to external factors, particularly, aspects of human cognition and features of our physical and cultural environments. In this paper, it is argued that the limitations of historical linguistics can be partially alleviated by the consideration of the links between language structure and the biological underpinnings of human language, human cognition, and human behaviour, and specifically, of human self-domestication (that is, the existence in humans of features of domesticated mammals). Overall, we can expect that the languages spoken in remote prehistory exhibited most of the features of the so-called esoteric languages, which are used by present-day, close-knit, small human communities that share a great deal of knowledge about their environment.

scholarly journals LA TRADUCTION DES NOMS COMPOSÉS JURIDIQUES ANGLAIS EN -ING DANS LES LANGUES ROMANES

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 107-125
Author(s):  
Corina VELEANU
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
High Court ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
Compound Nouns ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Target Languages ◽  
Court Of Appeal

The aim of this paper is to analyse the behaviour of -ing compound nouns in the process of their translation into Romance languages. The starting point of this analysis is our research into the entry of -ing simple nouns in the legal vocabulary of Romance languages, which we presented at the 10th International Days of the Lexicology, Terminology and Translation Network (University of Strasbourg, 2015). The method of the present research consists in a contrastive analysis of the entry of English compound nouns containing the morpheme -ing in the legal vocabulary of French, Romanian, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, in order to assess both the translating differences in terms of perception between the simple and compound -ing structures, and the degree of permeability of the legal target-languages in contact with the legal English terms. One of the practical purposes of the present research will be offering a linguistic analysis basis to legal translators, as we founded our work on our hands-on experience as a legal translator and interpreter with the Tribunal de Grande Instance (High Court) of Lyon and the Court of Appeal, as well as a lecturer in legal English and translation.

scholarly journals Democratic Self-Cultivation

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 626-644
Author(s):  
Leonard J. WAKS
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Education ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Education Project ◽  
Confucian Philosophy ◽  
Confucian Self ◽  
Western Democracies ◽  
Intercultural Philosophy ◽  
Philosophical Understanding

In this paper I draw on the concept of Confucian self -cultivation to strengthen John Dewey’s democratic education project. For Dewey, democracy is primarily a form of associated living, marked by the broad sharing of interests and rich communication among social groups. In appealing to Confucian philosophy to bolster Dewey’s educational project I adopt the framework of global Intercultural philosophy, placing philosophical approaches from different cultural traditions together to augment intellectual resources and advance philosophical understanding. This approach initially dictates a comparative method: “setting into dialogue sources from across cultural, linguistic, and philosophical streams” (Littlejohn, n.d.). I draw particularly upon the Analects of Confucius, the collected works of John Dewey, and standard interpretive works. But I go beyond mere comparison, to argue for an enriched form of democratic education, bolstered by Confucian insights, and suitable for contemporary Western democracies.

scholarly journals Formation of the image of Buddhism in Russia (the end of the XIX – the beginning of the XX centuries)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Sergei Nesterkin
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Cultural Environment ◽  
Theravada Buddhism ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
Russian School ◽  
Theoretical Position ◽  
Religious System ◽  
Key Features

This article examines the sources of formation of the image of Buddhism in the Russian cultural environment and determine the degree of representativeness of this image. The author highlights the three main sources: 1) academic research works of the Western Schools of Buddhology (based on Pāli and Sanskrit material); 2) research conducted within the framework of the Russian School of Buddhology (based primarily on Tibetan- and Mongolian-language material); 3) research of the Orthodox Russian missionaries. It is determined that the fundamental theoretical position developed by the Anglo-Germanic School of Buddhology is the thesis on authenticity of Theravada Buddhism, which is considered as “initial”, and its other forms (such as Mahayana, Vajrayana) are considered as its later modifications that emerged under the influence of external factors. The key features of Buddhism in Buddhology imply that: 1) Buddha Shakyamuni was not a transcendent being; 2) his nirvana is understood nihilistically, as a complete cessation of the process of being; 3) Buddhism, denies the existence of soul; 4) the existence of God and the representation of the transcendent are also denied. Despite the fact that the studies of Mahayana and Vajrayana material indicated inadequacy of such assessment, these theses were reproduced over again. This is explained by the interest of significant social groups in such image of Buddhism: many Orthodox figures interpreted Buddhism as a philosophical-ethical, rather than religious system; atheistically-oriented scholars and scientifically-oriented public also supported such interpretation. The rational aspects of Buddhism, which give common grounds with science, were uncritically absolutized; Buddhism was viewed as an ally of scientific thinking, completely alien to faith.

Syntactic Change in Contact: Romance

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta D'Alessandro
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
Syntactic Change ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
Selection Of

Language change as a result of language contact is studied in many different ways using a number of different methodologies. This article provides an overview of the main approaches to syntactic change in contact (CIC), focusing on the Romance language group. Romance languages are widely documented both synchronically and diachronically. They have been in extensive contact with other language families both in bilingual contexts and in creolization contexts. Furthermore, they present great microvariation. They are therefore ideal to tackle language change in contact. Given the breadth of studies targeting Romance languages in contact, only a selection of facts is considered here, namely pro-drop, differential object marking (DOM), and deixis. The article shows that microcontact, i.e., contact between minimally different grammars, is a necessary dimension to be considered within contact studies, as it provides insights that are often radically different from those provided by the observation of contact between maximally different languages. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Linguistics, Volume 7 is January 14, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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