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.     

Francis Hutcheson on Luxury and Intemperance: The Mandeville Threat

This paper looks at two figures in the modern, European, eighteenth-century debate on luxury. It claims to better understand the differences between Francis Hutcheson and Bernard Mandeville by exploring how Hutcheson treated the topic of luxury as a distinction between two desires, thus differing from Mandeville's concept of luxury, and a concept of temperance based on moral sense. It explores why Hutcheson believed that luxury was a moral, social and political issue and particularly why he considered Mandeville the embodiment of a threat that went beyond simple considerations of the content of The Fable of the Bees to touch on reflections on the equilibrium of a social and political system. It aims to show how the psychological and the moral dimension were connected to Hutcheson's political theory and how luxury was one of the key points of this connection.     

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.     

审视传统文化的另一个视角

中国宗法社会发展到宋代,产生了大量脱离社会秩序的游民,形成游民阶层,在游民中产生了通俗文化、通俗文学。游民不同于宗法人之处,在于他们有反社会性、主动进击精神和帮派意识,义气是他们联系的纽带。产生于游民的通俗文化、通俗文学,包括《三国演义》《水浒传》等,又为游民的组织、活动提供了理论武器。从游民文化看中国历史,是审视传统文化的另一个视角。     

基于遥感数据的中亚五国城市时空扩展变化研究

借助遥感与GIS技术,以1990年LandsatTM和2000年Landsat ETM+遥感影像为数据来源,提取中亚5国首都城市建设用地信息。计算1990年和2000年中亚5国首都城市的城市扩展强度、城市年扩展速率及城市形状紧凑度,对中亚地区五国城市扩展的时空变化进行定量分析。结果表明:1990年和2000年,中亚5国首都城市扩展强度指数和城市扩展速度差距较大,其中阿什哈巴德的扩展强度指数和城市扩展速度最大,分别为0.93、4.6,而最小的是杜尚别,分别只有0.001、2.6,二者相差悬殊。而紧凑度变化幅度不大,2000年,杜尚别、塔什干的紧凑度较大,分别为0.6、0.46,其城市结构更为紧凑,用地集约程度增大,而阿斯塔纳、比什凯克和阿什哈巴德城市结构相对较为松散。同时,中亚五国首都城市空间向外扩张、向内填充的强度、方向各不相同,从而呈现出各自的扩展特点。     

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.     

Children and the public realm: antecedents and consequences of independent mobility in a group of 11–13-year-old Italian children

Access to several play environments, as well as exploration of public spaces and socialization with peers, is crucial for children's development. Western children are often deprived of these opportunities and independent mobility is constantly decreasing. In the present study, we aimed to test an integrative model of the antecedents and consequences of independent mobility and to preliminarily explore the relationship between parenting styles and independent mobility in a group of 589 Italian children. We expected and found that being female and being younger predicted less independent mobility. In turn, we found that lower independent mobility predicted greater feelings of loneliness through the mediation of a weaker sense of community, a lower sense of safety and less frequent social activities with friends. Moreover, we found that independent mobility changed according to different configurations of parenting styles.