Mental maps and perceptual dialectology

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Cramer
Keyword(s):  
Mental Maps ◽  
Perceptual Dialectology

scholarly journals A perceptual dialectological approach to linguistic variation and spatial analysis of Kurdish varieties

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-130
Author(s):  
Eva Eppler ◽  
Josef Benedikt
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Spatial Analysis ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Geographical Information Systems ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Mental Maps ◽  
Perceptual Dialectology ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Official Status

This paper presents the results of the first investigation into Kurdish linguistic varieties and their spatial distribution. Kurdish dialects are used across five nation states in the Middle East and only one dialect, Sorani, has official status in one of these nation states. The study employs the “draw-a-map” task established in Perceptual Dialectology; the analysis is supported by Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The results show that, despite the geolinguistic and geopolitical situation, Kurdish respondents have good knowledge of the main varieties of their language (Kurmanji, Sorani, and the related variety Zazaki) and where to localize them. Awareness of the more diverse Southern Kurdish varieties is less definitive. This indicates that the Kurdish language plays a role in identity formation, but also that smaller isolated varieties are not only endangered in terms of speakers, but also in terms of their representations in Kurds’ mental maps of the linguistic landscape they live in.

Perceptual Dialectology

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Cramer
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Geographic Information Systems ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Mental Maps ◽  
Dialectal Variation ◽  
Perceptual Dialectology ◽  
Gis Tools ◽  
History Of

This chapter introduces the topic of Perceptual Dialectology (PD), an area of sociolinguistics concerned with how nonlinguists understand dialectal variation. The chapter provides a brief history of the field and explores the ways in which the perceptions and language attitudes of nonlinguists have typically been elicited in research conducted within the modern tradition of PD with a particular focus on mental maps. Additionally, this chapter identifies ways in which these methods have been improved upon, specifically through the use of geographic information systems (GIS) tools. As an illustration of both the typical tools used in PD research and these recent advances in data analysis, a research project on the perceptions of dialectal variation within and across the state of Kentucky is presented.

scholarly journals Research of the images of standard Lithuanian in an area of the standard language: the case of Kaunas district gymnasium

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Laura Geržotaitė
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
National Language ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Mental Maps ◽  
Urban Centre ◽  
Standard Language ◽  
Perceptual Dialectology ◽  
Linguistic Code ◽  
Language And Education ◽  
Methodological Principles

The present study explores the images of standard Lithuanian of young people at a gymnasium located in the area of the standard language. The data were obtained from a questionnaire based on the methodological principles of perceptual dialectology. The image of the standard language in the consciousness of the respondents emerges from the analysis of the questionnaire data: the frequency of linguistic codes, the mental maps of the standard language areas, and associations of the standard language. The analysis of the data shows that the gymnasium students tend to distance themselves from the regional linguistic code. The respondents’ disassociation from the local variety and their stronger preference for the code of the standard language is probably related to their sense of language security in the area of the linguistic homeland (including that of the standard language). The mental maps show that the young people associate the standard Lithuanian with the larger or smaller area of central Lithuania, which includes cities (Kaunas, Vilnius), adjacent non-dialect areas (Jonava, Kaišiadorys), and one or two dialect zones; it nearly overlaps the area of the standard language delineated in the second decade of the twenty-first century. Vilnius is the part of this image – probably of its status of the capital city and a significant social, cultural, and urban centre of attraction. The gymnasium students think that speakers of the standard language are city dwellers first and foremost, while the mental connection between the code of standard language and education occurs less often. Such views might have emerged due to the location of the city – hence that of the respondents’ linguistic homeland. Identifying the standard language user as an ordinary person or a Lithuanian could most likely be explained by the fact that the standard language is not only a national language to the young people: it is also an equivalent of their linguistic code. The gymnasium students do not associate the standard language with linguistic norms (the correct use of language). The consistency of the young generation’s attitudes (both those visualised on the maps and verbalised in the questionnaire answers) suggests the high value of the variety spoken in the area they associate with the standard language. The results of the study provide insights into the functioning, vitality, and continuity of the standard language in this area.  

scholarly journals The perception and value of the new local language variety: the case of the Samogitians of periphery

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Monika Triaušytė
Keyword(s):  
Language Usage ◽  
Local Identity ◽  
Mental Maps ◽  
Standard Language ◽  
Local Language ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Perceptual Dialectology ◽  
Language Variety ◽  
Local Dialect ◽  
Methodological Principles

Dialects change, transform, and new ones – transitional, intermediate varieties between dialect(s) and standard language – emerge due to various extralinguistic factors (see Lenz 2010, 296). The research shows that the variety of the periphery of Samogitia, Akmenė region has also changed (Murinienė 2018).The aim of this study is to reveal the gymnasium students’ competence to identify local intermediate variety by assessing it from the perspective of three language varieties – dialect, semi-dialect (intermediate variety) and standard language, and also its value. The data was obtained from a questionnaire, based on the methodological principles of sociolinguistics and perceptual dialectology, to reveal attitudes of young residents of Akmenė region.The analysis shows that gymnasium students, according to their verbalised and visualised attitudes, identify the local variety as a semi-dialect and reflect a less marked dialect. Respondents call it semi-Samogitian dialect, semi-Samogitian and semi-Highland dialect/standard language. In the mental maps, the local dialect is also marked as a semi-dialect and is located between Šiauliai and Mažeikiai, which reveals the reflected peripherality of the local language variety.According to the associations with users of semi-dialect, this variety acquires a high value compared to the (traditional) dialect. The user of the intermediate language variety is described as adaptable, flexible, and simultaneously modern, but not the person who abandons the traditions. The local language variety is important for expressing the local identity because the standard language usage is not recognised among the local dialect users as a conscious separation from the community if it is used in informal situations.

Bearings in Mental Maps

1992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl F. Wender ◽  
Monika Wagener
Keyword(s):  
Mental Maps

scholarly journals Whose Landscape Is It? Remapping Memory and History in Interwar Central Europe

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Nóra Veszprémi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Mental Maps ◽  
Habsburg Empire ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Place Memory ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract After the collapse of the Habsburg Empire and the sanctioning of new national borders in 1920, the successor states faced the controversial task of reconceptualizing the idea of national territory. Images of historically significant landscapes played a crucial role in this process. Employing the concept of mental maps, this article explores how such images shaped the connections between place, memory, and landscape in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Hungarian revisionist publications demonstrate how Hungarian nationalists visualized the organic integrity of “Greater Hungary,” while also implicitly adapting historical memory to the new geopolitical situation. As a counterpoint, images of the Váh region produced in interwar Czechoslovakia reveal how an opposing political agenda gave rise to a different imagery, while drawing on shared cultural traditions from the imperial past. Finally, the case study of Dévény/Devín/Theben shows how the idea of being positioned “between East and West” lived on in overlapping but politically opposed mental maps in the interwar period. By examining the cracks and continuities in the picturesque landscape tradition after 1918, the article offers new insight into the similarities and differences of nation-building processes from the perspective of visual culture.

scholarly journals What Are Friends for in Russia Versus Canada?: An Approach for Documenting Cross-Cultural Differences

2021 ◽  
pp. 106939712110245
Author(s):  
Marina M. Doucerain ◽  
Andrew G. Ryder ◽  
Catherine E. Amiot
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Factor Structure ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Cultural Models ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Group ◽  
Mental Maps ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences

Most research on friendship has been grounded in Western cultural worlds, a bias that needs to be addressed. To that end, we propose a methodological roadmap to translate linguistic/anthropological work into quantitative psychological cross-cultural investigations of friendship, and showcase its implementation in Russia and Canada. Adopting an intersubjective perspective on culture, we assessed cultural models of friendship in three inter-related ways: by (1) deriving people’s mental maps of close interpersonal relationships; (2) examining the factor structure of friendship; and (3) predicting cultural group membership from a given person’s friendship model. Two studies of Russians (Study 1, n = 89; Study 2a, n = 195; Study 2b, n = 232) and Canadians (Study 1, n = 89; Study 2a, n = 164; Study 2b, n = 199) implemented this approach. The notions of trust and help in adversity emerged as defining features of friendship in Russia but were less clearly present in Canada. Different friendship models seem to be prevalent in these two cultural worlds. The roadmap described in the current research documents these varying intersubjective representations, showcasing an approach that is portable across contexts (rather than limited to a specific cross-cultural contrast) and relies on well-established methods (i.e., easily accessible in many research contexts).

Cognitive-Humanistic Psychodynamics: Sidney Blatt’s Theoretical-Philosophical Legacy

2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Golan Shahar ◽  
Linda C. Mayes
Keyword(s):  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Mental Maps

A number of broad-based, theoretical-philosophical tenets are to be gleaned from Sidney Blatt’s voluminous, extensive, and unique scholarly work. Dominant themes in Blatt’s life and work include (1) his fascination with cognition, particularly mental maps, or representations, of reality; (2) the influence of humanistic values (e.g., agency, need for growth, gestalts, need for balance, and an optimistic focus on resilience); and (3) a steadfast adherence to Freud’s revolutionary discovery of the dynamic unconscious. Philosophically speaking, Blatt has left a unique, integrative, and vibrant legacy for the field, one that might be called cognitive-humanistic psychodynamics.

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