Compound Verb Processing in Second Language Speakers of Persian

This study investigates compound verb processing in second language speakers (L2) of Persian. Forty-six near-native L2 speakers of Persian were tested to examine the processing of transparent (non-idiomatic) and opaque (idiomatic) compound verbs, under masked priming paradigm. The results revealed a significant nominal priming effect in the opaque condition, and a numerically stronger nominal priming effect in the transparent condition. There was also an increase in the processing load on the parser when the target was an opaque compound. The results of this study seem to be compatible with the dual access or dual route hypothesis, yet with the version that assumes the two routes are activated in parallel rather than the version that assumes high frequency words are represented lexically but low frequency words are decomposed.     

Linguistic Ideologies,Text Regulation,and the Question of Post-Structuralism

Three works are reviewed that make significant contributions to anthropological linguistics. Two address theoretical and ethnographic concerns regarding linguistic ideologies and the dilemmas they pose for speech practices such as text regulation. Such practices are harnessed to cultural projects such as language modernization and nationalism. The third, a post-structuralist reading of language-and-culture studies concerned with orality and literacy, brings post-structuralist theory into conversation with ethnographers of communication and other students of language. This article argues that such an intervention is welcome and long overdue, though it questions what form this intervention should take.     

Learning Geography Bilingually

A concern with the role of the ‘Other’ in geography in higher education has led to work on the incorporation of marginalized social groups into learning contexts. Recently some authors have discussed the role of language in teaching, and in particular the dominant role of the English language in marginalizing non‐Anglophonic students and subject matter. In this paper an empirical case study of the experiences of bilingual students at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth is developed. This research provides an account of the role of language in bilingual students' engagements with geography, and addresses the practicalities and the politics of enabling students with a diversity of linguistic skills to become full citizens of their geographical education.     

Implementing political agreement in Northern Ireland: Planning issues for Irish language policy

This paper examines the place of the Irish language in the context of the political agreement recently reached in Northern Ireland. Language planning issues are seen to turn on critical relationships between the emergent legislative framework and local Irish-speaking communities in the region. A model for community-based language planning initiatives is proposed as a means of ensuring the effective engagement of language policy with Irish-speakers. It is suggested that the issue of language rights is likely to become much more pressing as the new institutions of state seek to reflect the socio-political diversity of the region.     

The Elusive Idea of the Nation: Israel in the Mirror of Modernity

The article begins by analyzing the historical process that brought many Europeans to question the natural framework of their common political existence: the nation and its secular contrivance, the state. The nation appears as the ultimate casualty of European nationalism, and its “crisis of identity” has further deepened in the last few years with the acceleration of European integration. The state appears less and less as the natural locus of political authority, and, in a continent where particularities are tending to diminish, a very different sense of affiliation has been emerging: the inclination to embrace “global humanism” which has no correlation with the conventional framework of representative government. Israel offers an appropriate counterproof to the tribulations of the European fading sense of nationhood. The article considers the distinctive character of Israel among modern nation-states in light of the classical definitions of the nation, in particular with regard to the role of religion and its relation to the political institutions.     

Language and politics in Italy: from Moro to Berlusconi

The article posits the existence of a nexus between some language dimensions on the one hand, and the type of party system and degree of electoral volatility on the other. The first part dissects the old language of Italian politics, these days contemptuously referred to as politichese , and argues that its cryptic character can be properly understood only if seen against both the functional requirements and systemic constraints of the Italian post-war political regime in general, and the functioning of its party system in particular. The second part examines the new language that emerged in the early 1990s, the so-called gentese , and argues that its populist characteristics are linked to the disintegration of old parties which meant that a sizeable portion of the electorate was up for grabs. Other important factors were the emergence of political actors who wished to differentiate themselves from those of the past and their perception that the Italian party system was changing. Il saggio esplora alcuni dei nessi esistenti tra varie dimensioni del linguaggio politico (lessico, complessitÀ sintattica, tono) da un lato, e dimensioni politiche (tipo di sistema di partiti e grado di mobilitÀ elettorale) dall'altro. La prima parte esamina il vecchio linguaggio della politica italiana, oggi sprezzantemente definito politichese , e sostiene che il suo carattere ermetico e complesso è da collegarsi ad alcune caratteristiche del sistema politico della Prima Repubblica e al suo sistema partitico in particolare. La seconda parte esamina il nuovo linguaggio politico italiano (il cosiddetto gentese ) e sostiene che le sue caratteristiche populiste vanno collegate all'aumento della mobilitÀ elettorale registrata all'inizio degli anni 90 (dovuta anche alla disintegrazione dei partiti tradizionali) e alla percezione, largamente errata, dei nuovi attori politici che la riforma della legge elettorale avrebbe condotto necessariamente a un sistema partitico bipolare.     

丰约显意蕴妙语著华章——文章语言文字问题浅析

意境深邃的文章是以精美的语言为支撑的。作者要写出好的作品,必须具有驾驭语言文字的能力和技巧。语言的丰约质美与绚烂淡雅,决定着文章的意蕴。因此,作者在写作时应根据思想感情表达的需要把握语言的繁缛华美或平淡质朴,以写出妙语连殊和令人赞叹的好文章。     

The cultures of Native North American language documentation and revitalization

The reviewed books comprise an emerging ethnographic literature on endangered language documentation and revitalization in Native North America. Language loss and preservation are pressing concerns for tribal communities, galvanizing activists and researchers to develop classroom curricula and literacy traditions in hopes of producing new speakers. While the reviewed books show that this goal often goes unrealized, we nevertheless read them as grounds for optimism. Even if language revitalization rarely increases the everyday use of particular lexical and grammatical codes, it may succeed in accomplishing another important goal: facilitating indigenous communities’ efforts to create for themselves more meaningful contemporary cultures.     

Language Assimilation During the Modernisation Process: Experiences from Norway and North-West Russia

Abstract

The article gives an analysis of the demographic material for North Sámi in Norway during the last 150 years, and compares it to key tendencies in some of the Uralic languages of the Soviet Union. The present linguistic landscape can be predicted with great accuracy from Friis’ survey of 1860. At that time, bilingualism among the Norwegians was widespread in parishes with predominantly Sámi or Finnish (Kven) population. During the assimilation process, the preservation of Sámi was not due to the size of the Sámi population, but rather to its relative size. Today's Sámi communities are the ones with the least Norwegians one and a half centuries ago. A key factor in the language shift process has been mixed marriages. The Soviet data show a greater degree of language preservation, especially for the Nenets and Mari. The difference is partly a result of the Soviet language policy, but also to the degree of contact between the minority and majority populations.     

语用功能视角下的模糊语研究

模糊现象在自然界、人类社会、人类思维中广泛存在。众所周知,在某些特定的场合下,模糊语比清晰精确的语言更得体更有效。本文简要回顾了模糊语的渊源,对模糊语进行了界定,论述了模糊语产生的根源,并将其与格赖斯的“合作原则”相结合探讨其语用功能。最后提出相应的语用策略,以期促进交际者充分利用模糊语积极一面,减少其消极影响,从而使言语交际顺利有效地进行。