scholarly journals Asymmetrical Complexity in Languages Due to L2 Effects: Unserdeutsch and Beyond

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Siegwalt Lindenfelser
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Morphological Complexity ◽  
L2 Learning ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
History Of ◽  
Creole Languages

This study examines asymmetries between so-called inherent and contextual categories in relation to the morphological complexity of the nominal and verbal inflectional domain of languages. The observations are traced back to the influence of adult L2 learning in scenarios of intense language contact. A method for a simple comparison of the amount of inherent versus contextual categories is proposed and applied to the German-based creole language Unserdeutsch (Rabaul Creole German) in comparison to its lexifier language. The same procedure will be applied to two further language pairs. The grammatical systems of Unserdeutsch and other contact languages display a noticeable asymmetry regarding their structural complexity. Analysing different kinds of evidence, the explanatory key factor seems to be the role of (adult) L2 acquisition in the history of a language, whereby languages with periods of widespread L2 acquisition tend to lose contextual features. This impression is reinforced by general tendencies in pidgin and creole languages. Beyond that, there seems to be a tendency for inherent categories to be more strongly associated with the verb, while contextual categories seem to be more strongly associated with the noun. This leads to an asymmetry in categorical complexity between the noun phrase and the verb phrase in languages that experienced periods of intense L2 learning.

“Russian” Spengler and the Destiny of World History in Russian Philosophy in the Beginning of the 20th Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 115-128
Author(s):  
Vladimir A. Kudryavtsev ◽  
Alexandra I. Vakulinskaya
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Russian Philosophy ◽  
Cultural Revival ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Ideological Influence ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
History Of ◽  
Religious Factor ◽  
In The Beginning

This article deals with the history of Russian philosophers ‘acquaintance with the ideas of O. Spengler, set forth in his work “The Decline of the West”. The authors point out that the initial orientation of Russian thought towards Historiosophy, problems of history and ontology became the key factor of Spengler’s popularity in Russia. The article considers and analyzes critical and methodological approaches to the theory of cultural and historical types by O. Spengler and N. Ya. Danilevsky within the framework of Russian philosophical thought. The authors pay attention to the ideological influence of the United States as the country which adheres to the ideas of the Enlightenment, as well as to German thinkers, who visited this country in the early twentieth century. It is concluded that the global scenario of the human civilization development, that used to be the mainstream of its formation before the events of the beginning of this year, is unsuitable and untenable. The authors insist on the important role of the theory of cultural and historical types supported and developed by Russian emigration representatives, and focus on the importance of the religious factor in the process of cultural revival.

The maintenance, repair and construction of ships in the French Empire during the eighteenth century

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 590-611
Author(s):  
David Plouviez
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Economic History ◽  
French Empire ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
History Of ◽  
Construction Tasks ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Port Infrastructure

The history of maritime trade has been the subject of considerable research since the 1950s, but the technical artefacts of this trade have not received the attention they deserve. While historians have paid plenty attention to ships – their features, tonnage, etc. – and port infrastructure overseas, the issues relating to naval repair and construction in the Empires have rarely attracted interest. However, this is a key factor in understanding the dynamics of trade, which encompasses the interplay between economic history, social history and the history of technology. Drawing on the example of the French Empire, this article aims to provide a first approach to this economy of maintenance, repair and shipbuilding overseas. The first step is to identify the places where these complex tasks were carried out and to establish the temporality of equipment in overseas ports. Did the French Empire offer a network of ports equipped to maintain, repair and build ships? What equipment does this include? But while the question of infrastructure is crucial, insofar as it raises other issues related to the role of the State and its relationship with economic stakeholders, it is also essential to consider that a significant share of maintenance, repair and construction tasks were not associated with any specific infrastructure. The question of knowledge, know-how and their exchange within the Empires is also important and is the subject of the second part of this article. The aim is to demonstrate that the identification and breakdown of shipbuilding workers, the establishment of their occupational mobility and the technical discussions they engaged in with other Europeans, settlers or natives, provide challenging research opportunities that may help us to understand the maintenance, repair and construction of ships in the Empires.

scholarly journals On case loss and svarabhakti vowels: the sociolinguistic typology and geolinguistics of simplification in North Germanic

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (01) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Tam T. Blaxter ◽  
Peter Trudgill
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Dialect Contact ◽  
Low German ◽  
History Of ◽  
Middle Low German

AbstractWork in sociolinguistic typology and creole studies has established the theory that intensive language contact involving second language acquisition by adults tends to lead to grammatical simplification. This theory is built on many anecdotal case studies, including developments in the history of Continental North Germanic associated with contact with Middle Low German. In this paper, we assess the theory by examining two changes in the history of Norwegian: the loss of coda /Cr/ clusters and the loss of prepositional genitives. If the theory is correct, these changes should have been innovated in centers of contact with Middle Low German. We find that both changes in fact spread into southeastern Norwegian from Swedish. Since contact with Low German also took place in Sweden and Denmark, this is consistent with the theory. It opens questions for future research about the role of dialect contact in simplificatory change in North Germanic.

scholarly journals An Investigation of Attitudes and Motivation of College Efl Students in a Japanese University

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 27-46
Author(s):  
Norman Fewell
Keyword(s):  
Student Attitudes ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Internal Variables ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L2 Learning ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Efl Students

The issue of student attitudes and motivation is considered a topic of substantial importance by scholars; particularly those involved in research concerning L2 acquisition. The study of attitudes and motivation has been a topic originating from psychology and more recently educational psychology. Its application in L2 learning is most significantly accredited to the early works of Gardener and Lambert (1959), but it has always been a topic of interest for L2 educators. Attitudes and motivation have been extremely influential factors that can have either positive or even negative effects for L2 learners. A great deal of research has attempted to identify influential sources but there has not been any one key factor that has cultivated motivation or attitudes but rather numerous external and internal variables. There is no identifiable universal formula to explain the effects of these variables but rather varying combinations of sources influencing attitudes and motivation to different degrees, depending on the surroundings and the group or individual in question. This topic is extremely complex and many unidentifiable or inconclusive findings continue to persist in current research. The causes of attitudes and motivation, the significance, and the influence exerted in the L2 learning environment shall be examined. In this paper, I shall identify and discuss a selection of research that has produced relevant findings, investigate a small sample of my own L2 learners, and attempt to relate current literature in providing an explanation of the findings. It should also be noted that the definitions of attitudes and motivation are nearly indistinguishable and much earlier research had identified both factors as identical in some cases as noted by Ellis (1985). It is hoped that this paper shall provide valuable information and insight that will assist and encourage educators of the importance of student attitudes and motivation and the underlying aspects that accompany it when applied to a L2 setting.

Op het elan van de democratie : Emoties als mobilisatiefactor in de Belgische politieke geschiedenis

Res Publica ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-117
Author(s):  
Marc Hooghe ◽  
Gita Deneckere
Keyword(s):  
Political History ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Political Protest ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
History Of

In recent years, several authors have stated that emotions have come to play a more important role in political life, especially in political mass mobilisation. Ouring the 1990s, Belgium and other Western countries have indeed witnessed some spectacular examples of emotion-driven mobilisation. In this article, we argue that emotions are not an innovation in political mass-mobilisation. Various examples from the Belgian political history of the 19th and 20th centuries demonstrate that emotions have always been a key factor for explaining the occurrence, the form and the outcome of political protest. The mobilising role of emotions cannot be considered as aquantitative innovation, and therefore the expression 'new emotional movements' does not seem warranted. We make the claim that these recent mobilisations are not typical because of their reliance on emotions, but rather because of their tendency toward de-institutionalisation.

An Ecological Account of the Emergence and Evolution of English

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salikoko S. Mufwene
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
English Language ◽  
Ecological Model ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
The World ◽  
Population Structures ◽  
History Of

What follows is a contact-based account of the emergence of English. Though the role of language contact in the development of World Englishes is often addressed as a coda within History of the English Language (HEL) courses, this chapter presents an alternative story, highlighting contact situations in Old English, Middle English, and Early Modern English. The creolist perspective offered here suggests that History of English instructors should look closer at the received doctrine of HEL and consider whether an ecological model should not be used to make sense of the story of Englishes. A periodized history of colonization and of the ensuing population structures that influence language contact appears to explain a great deal about the differential evolution of English in various parts of the world, including what distinguishes colonial English dialects from their creole counterparts.

A History of Creole Studies

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvio Moreira de Sousa ◽  
Johannes Mücke ◽  
Philipp Krämer
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
European Colonialism ◽  
Creole Languages ◽  
The 19Th Century

As an institutionalized subfield of academic research, Creole studies (or Creolistics) emerged in the second half of the 20th century on the basis of pioneering works in the last decades of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. Yet its research traditions—just like the Creole languages themselves—are much older and are deeply intertwined with the history of European colonialism, slavery, and Christian missionary activities all around the globe. Throughout the history of research, creolists focused on the emergence of Creole languages and their grammatical structures—often in comparison to European colonial languages. In connection with the observations in grammar and history, creolists discussed theoretical matters such as the role of language acquisition in creolization, the status of Creoles among the other languages in the world, and the social conditions in which they are or were spoken. These discussions molded the way in which the acquired knowledge was transmitted to the following generations of creolists.

First- and Second-Language Acquisition and CILC

2020 ◽  
pp. 214-240
Author(s):  
Eva Duran Eppler ◽  
Gabriel Ozón
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Change ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Language Data ◽  
L1 And L2

This chapter explores the contested role of L1 and L2 acquisition in contact-induced linguistic change (CILC). We first identify three factors underlying these controversies (field of research; theoretical approach; and methodological limitations/advances), before discussing two elements language change and language acquisition have in common (i.e., isolated individuals cannot accomplish either, and both have to be studied through natural language data, with its attendant high degree of variation). We go on to define key terms and concepts for the role of L1 and L2 acquisition in contact-induced language change, including first and second language acquisition (L1A and L2A), bilingual first language acquisition, language variation and change, language contact and contact-induced language change. In the main section we discuss the role of L1A and L2A in CILC, and examine different language-acquisition scenarios, in particular their potential for leading to CILC. We use these different language-acquisition types as testing grounds for the motivations behind (i.e., causes for, and triggers of) language change, and arrive at tentative conclusions about which of these language-acquisition scenarios is more likely to play a role in CILC, and why.

scholarly journals Ontological Foundations of Conceptualization of Art Institutions

2021 ◽  
pp. 171-176
Author(s):  
Anna Luhovska
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
History Of ◽  
Entire History ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The 19Th Century

The article describes the stages of formation and the main reasons for the transformation of the current art institutional system. Its characteristics, conventional to Europe at the end of the 18th century, became common to most countries by the second half of the 19th century. Globalization processes that accompany the entire history of the previous century are the key factor of the rapid changes in society, including the art sphere. The role of global economic changes with the orientation on the society of consumption, on the growing importance of art market, commercialization of culture in general, emergence of new technologies and changes in attitudes to contemporary art in all its manifestations were observed. The reasons for shifting the emphasis and rethinking the role of artist, curator and spectator in the modern mode of existence of art institutions were analyzed. The conditions for updating existing and new forms of art representation, as well as expanding the concept of an artwork and the difference in understanding its value in historical and commercial terms that do not always coincide, were described.

scholarly journals Corrective Feedback in SLA: Theoretical Relevance and Empirical Research

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Jin Chen ◽  
Jianghao Lin ◽  
Lin Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
L2 Development ◽  
L2 Production ◽  
History Of ◽  
Controversial Topic

<p>Corrective feedback (CF) refers to the responses or treatments from teachers to a learner’s nontargetlike second language (L2) production. CF has been a crucial and controversial topic in the discipline of second language acquisition (SLA). Some SLA theorists believe that CF is harmful to L2 acquisition and should be ruled out completely while others regard CF as an essential catalyst for L2 development. The last two decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in empirical research on the effectiveness of CF. This article, with an aim to provide an informed knowledge of the potential role of CF, briefly traces the history of research on CF and proposes some recommendations for further studies. It starts by surveying a range of theoretical stances on the role of error and error correction (also known as CF) in SLA. It then moves into detailed discussion of three issues on CF heatedly debated either within a cognitive or a sociocultural framework. By examining the empirical findings, some possible topics for further studies are uncovered.</p>

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