1,720,966 research outputs found
The Linguistic Landscapes of Mostar and Leuven: A Comparative Study
No full textLinguistic landscaping is a pioneering subfield of sociolinguistics exploring language in its written form in urban contexts. Since 1997 (Laundry & Bourhis 1997), as a swiftly expanding research area worldwide it has proved to be a relevant instrument for measuring various social and linguistic phenomena in multiethnic and multicultural ecologies (Backhaus 2007; Ben-Rafael et al. 2006; Edelman 2010; Grbavac 2012; Pavlenko 2010) This chapter aims at a comparative analysis of the linguistic landscapes (LLs) of two seemingly different sociolinguistic surroundings: the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the city of Leuven in Belgium. The motivation and justification for this research lay in the fact that the linguistic landscapes of these two cities have not yet been inspected through the LL research methods. Furthermore, both cities are embedded in similar yet different political, ideological, cultural, social and linguistic settings. Therefore, the aim of the chapter is to outline the similarities and differences of these two sociolinguistic contexts visible in the linguistic landscape. We propose the hypothesis that the two linguistic landscapes will show some similarities in language usage patterns and the collective identity construction modes. Both LLs are set in regions where different languages and cultures intertwine, and we therefore expect to find some universal matrices. Additionally, the contribution of this chapter is in the documentary value of the research.edition: 1status: Publishe
Conceptual Metaphors of Science : Prolegomena to a Cognitive History of Science
Get PDFThe cognitive abilities explained by cognitive science and cognitive semantics can inform us concerning the use of metaphors in science. The thesis is that abstract ideas rest on experiences of the concrete world. In this paper I will explain the use of conceptual metaphors in science, with examples from the mechanistic worldview of the 17th and 18th century. If we proceed from the way people think in general, their mental abilities, reason and cognition, we could get close to an understanding of how scientists during the scientific revolution shaped their ideas about the invisible geometry of matter. This is a cognitive history of ideas. What is called the ‘cognitive turn’ in the humanities has generated vigorous growth of research, for example, in cognitive poetics, neuroaesthetics, and cognitive anthropology. These approaches try to arrive at an understanding of creative processes. In the historical sciences there is also a growing interest in cognitive-historical analyses, particularly in archaeology and history of science. The aim of the cognitive history of science is to reconstruct scientific thinking on the basis of cognitive theories. The starting point for a cognitive history of ideas that I defend here is that philosophy, science, and mathematics do not really happen just in texts, in language, in laboratories, or in social contexts, but in brains and minds in interaction with the world around the subject, and are thus connected to the body, to perception, thoughts, and feelings. We humans are captured in our brains situated in the world, we are dependent on our thoughts and senses, our prior knowledge, our mental images, when we try to create a picture of the world. Science, in other words, is shaped by our distinctive way of reasoning, not least in metaphors
Linguistic Explorations of Multilingualism
No full textThis paper provides an overview of linguistic studies of multilingualism. In the beginning of
this paper, a brief survey on attitude to the phenomenon of multilingualism and linguistic diversity
throughout history is given, which shows that multilingualism has actually been natural to most human
societies. Despite this fact, multilingual capacities of individuals and societies had generally been
neglected in linguistic studies before the second half of the 20th century, with linguists having
investigated mainly individual languages as isolated systems. Sociolinguists and linguistic
anthropologists were among first people to have realized the importance of avoiding of monolingual
prejudices. With recent increased attention towards this phenomenon, multilingualism is today studied
and explored in various linguistic disciplines. A large number of terms and fields of research shows that
the study is gradually emerging as a new discipline, although the field would benefit from more common
terms. Following the definition and delimitation of the basic terms related to multilingualism, perspective
for future research is given
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Complex Predicate Constructions in Uzbek Language
Get PDFComplex predicates are defined as constructions consisting of preverb/converb/coverb + ‘light verb’ (Bowern 2006). Each component of the complex construction contributes to the internal argument structure. The typology of complex predicates exhibits cross-linguistic similarities and differences. This study investigates the complex predicate constructions in Uzbek, which possesses a rich variety of light verb constructions. Novel data from Uzbek is provided, and it is analyzed on the basis of proposed criteria in the government and binding theory (GB) literature for complex predicates. The analysis reveals that these constructions express simultaneity, cause and effect, and consecutivity. Both verbs in complex constructions share the same subject, and they describe a single event. However, the object may or may not be shared by both verbs. What is significant about Uzbek light verbs is that they both host inflection, and contribute to the event structure. That is, tense and agreement markers, as well as aspectual markers are carried by the light verb. The constituency is strict in complex predicates, and there cannot be an intervention between the converb and the light verb by such elements as interrogatives, negation, or temporal adverbs.
Key words: Complex predicates, light verbs, Uzbek language, construction, derivatio
İngilizce Yabancı Dil Bağlamında Dil Öğretimi Etkinliğini Artırmak İçin Mizah Kullanımı
No full textAs soon as benefits of humor are known, lecturers’ tendency and thoughts about humor in foreign language education is object of interest. At this master thesis, it was investigated that thoughts of lecturers who work in Pamukkale University School of Foreign Languages about benefits and drawbacks of humor in English teaching, if they use humor in their classes, they feel they are sufficient regarding use of humor or not and how they improve themselves, which types of humor they prefer and their reasons. In addition, course materials’ adequacy of humor was questioned. Basic qualitative research design was used in this study. Data was collected from 10 lecturers’ interviews. Descriptive data analysis method was applied to obtained results. In this study, it was understood that all lecturers have a positive opinion about the role of humor in English language teaching. Lecturers mentioned that humor has psychological, social and cognitive benefits. Most of the lecturers said that they use humor in the courses, but they do not see this sufficient and they want to improve themselves about effective humor use. It was also revealed that they prefer humorous comment and visual humor most. It was understood that most of them are in agreement about humor is not sufficient in course materials. Lecturers shared their ideas about the harmful use of humor.Mizahın faydaları bilinmekle birlikte okutmanların yabancı dil eğitiminde mizah kullanım eğilimleri ve mizaha yönelik görüşleri merak konusudur. Bu yüksek lisans tezinde Pamukkale Üniversitesi Yabancı Diller Yüksekokulu’nda çalışan okutmanların İngilizce öğretiminde mizahın fayda ve zararları hakkındaki düşünceleri, derste mizah kullanıp kullanmadıkları, hangi mizah öğelerini tercih ettikleri ve nedenleri, yeterli ve etkili mizah kullanma konusunda kendilerini yeterli görüp görmedikleri ve kendilerini nasıl geliştirdikleri incelendi. Bunun yanında ders materyallerinde mizah içeriğinin yeterliliği sorgulandı. Bu çalışmada temel nitel analiz yöntemi kullanıldı. Veriler 10 okutman görüşmesi ile toplandı. Elde edilen bulgulara betimsel analiz yöntemi uygulandı. Bu çalışmada öğretmenlerin tamamının İngilizce eğitiminde mizahın rolü hakkında olumlu görüşlere sahip oldukları anlaşıldı. Okutmanlar mizahın psikolojik, sosyal ve kavramsal faydaları olduğunu ifade ettiler. Okutmanların çoğu derslerde mizah kullandıklarını fakat bunu yeterli görmediklerini, daha etkili mizah kullanımı için kendilerini geliştirmek istediklerini söylediler. Ayrıca en çok mizahi anlatım ve görsel mizah türünü tercih ettikleri saptandı. Ders materyallerinde mizah içeriklerinin yeterli olmadığı konusunda çoğunun hemfikir oldukları anlaşıldı
The matter of motivation-method and solution offers in foreign language teaching in Turkey
No full textURL: http://sefad.selcuk.edu.tr/sefad/article/view/107Son asırlarda ulaşım ve iletişim araçlarının mesafeleri kısaltmasıyla toplumlar arasındaki yakınlaşma kaçınılmaz olmuş ve bu duruma paralel olarak yabancı dil öğretiminin önemi bir kat daha artmıştır. Dünyada durum böyleyken Türkiye’de yabancı dil öğretiminden alınan olumsuz sonuçlar güncel tartışma konusudur. Türkiye’de bireylerin isteklendirilememesi ve uygulanan yanlış yöntemler toplumda yabancı dil öğretimine karsı ciddi ön yargılar oluşturmuştur. Türkiye’de yabancı dil öğretiminin önünde önemli bir problem olarak görülen motivasyon-yöntem sorunları ve çözüm yolları bu makalede irdelenmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular sonucunda Türkiye’de yabancı dil öğretiminde sorun teşkil eden nedenler, motivasyon ve metot temelli problemler olarak tespit edilmiş ve bunlara çözüm önerileri geliştirilmiştir.Nations that started to develop within time usually placed significant importance in foreign language learning because of military issues, marriages, migration, politics, colonialism, and economic reasons. Because of improved transportation means in the last centuries, the communications endeavors among the societies have turned the foreign language into a sector. As a response to that situation, foreign language teaching has become a major controversy in Turkey. A serious prejudice has been observed in Turkish community due to the wrong implementation of the foreign languages. In this communication age in which foreign language teaching has become so important, motivation and method problems which were considered to be important problems and solutions to them have been studied in this article. According to the research results, the main problems of foreign larguage teaching are categorized into motivation- based and methodology-based problems
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