429 research outputs found
The Linguistics of Laughter: A corpus-assisisted study of laughter-talk
No full textThis book examines what speakers try to achieve by producing ‘laughter-talk’ (the talk preceding and eliciting an episode of laughter) and, using abundant examples from language corpora, what hearers are signalling when they produce laughter.
In particular, the author focuses on the tactical use of laughter-talk to achieve specific rhetorical and strategic ends: for example, to construct an identity, to make an argumentative point, to threaten someone else’s face or save one’s own.
Although laughter and humour are by no means always related, the book also considers the implications these corpus-based observations may have about humour theory in general.
As one of the first works to have recourse to such a sizeable databank of examples of laughter in spontaneous running talk, this impressive volume will be a point of reference and an inspiration for scholars with an interest in corpus
linguistics, discourse, humour, wordplay, irony and laughter-talk as a social phenomenon
Managing Dystonia in Partington Syndrome
Get PDFBACKGROUND: Bilateral focal hand dystonia is an almost pathognomonic sign of Partington syndrome, frequently accompanied by intellectual disability and oromotor dyspraxia. However, a few studies have focused on the treatment of this focal dystonia, making patient management uncertain.CASES: We present 2 cases of Partington syndrome featuring Aristaless-related homeobox (ARX) gene mutations, hand dystonia, and other clinical signs. Various drug treatments were attempted, including levodopa (l-dopa), trihexyphenidyl, tetrabenazine, and benzodiazepines, as well as botulinum toxin. Additionally, a blinded dystonia protocol was used to assess l-dopa's efficacy in 1 patient, which confirmed only mild benefit.LITERATURE REVIEW: Through a systematic review of the literature, we found that only l-dopa and baclofen might result in mild improvement, whereas propranolol, gabapentin, and haloperidol were reported as ineffective. The descriptions in those studies were, however, imprecise and the improvement rather mild, hindering definitive conclusions about their effectiveness.CONCLUSIONS: Treatment options in Partington syndrome-associated dystonia remain elusive. Further research and additional case studies are needed to fully characterize the clinical features of Partington syndrome and to identify effective treatments.</p
Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony
No full textRoyal College of Music streamed live on Youtube, David Owen Norris introduces the an RCM celebrations for Vaughan Williams' 150th anniversary, renowned choral conductor and RCM alumnus Adrian Partington leads the monumental work that firmly put the composer on the map.Alongside, RCM Concerto Competition Winner Misha Kaploukhii performs Liszt's second and final piano concerto – an unconventional work in one single, sweeping movement, where piano and orchestra are woven together in expansive symphonic textures.Liszt Piano Concerto no 2 in A major S 125Vaughan Williams A Sea SymphonyAdrian Partington - conductorMisha Kaploukhii - pianoMadeleine Boreham - sopranoRedmond Sanders - baritoneRCM Symphony Orchestra and ChorusMark Biggins - chorus director<br/
Configuring in high velocity error sensitive circumstances: A grounded study
Get PDFThe operational reliability of organizations that deal on a routine basis with very
dynamic circumstances has been a rich domain of study for organizational scholars for
many years. Increasing reliance on the application of complex technologies and human
processes in a range of social endeavour provokes our need to understand the attributes
of such processes. Traditional contingency theoretic perspectives tend to produce
archetypal resolutions that identify in rather specific terms what organizational forms
can be matched with particular environmental characteristics. But as the organizational
environment becomes more dynamic this approach seems less credible. This research
therefore moves beyond the search for archetypes to investigate the processes by which
resources are configured in order to deal with dynamic circumstances. Further, with
self-managed teams increasingly acknowledged to be central to performance,
contributing to fast, flexible and creative action and therefore used as the fundamental
work group, this study focuses on the meso-level of the team. This helps to limit the
scope of the research task while still offering opportunities for good theoretical and
practical contribution. Adopting a grounded, qualitative methodology it triangulates
evidence from three dissimilar domains (accident and emergency, air traffic control and
fire service) that share a common context of unpredictability, high velocity and error
sensitivity. The findings identify a specific type of situated behaviour, termed agile
configuration, by which team members configure remarkably flexible and reliable
behaviours in very dynamic situations, suggesting an almost limitless range of potential
configuring behaviours that avoid the limitations of configurational archetypes. The
adduced models and explanations provide theoretical insights that increase
understanding of behaviour in extreme contingencies and therefore advance traditional
contingency theoretic perspectives, with particular relevance for concepts of dynamic
capability. These outcomes also have practical potential for the development of agile
configuration competence in self managed teams and larger organizational groupings
Modern diachronic corpus-assisted language studies: methodologies fro tracking language change over recent time.
Get PDFThis paper presents a description of the tools and methodologies employed in the novel discipline of modern diachronic corpus-assisted language studies. The main instruments are a set of three ‘sister’ corpora of parallel structure and content from different moments of contemporary time, namely 1993, 2005 and 2010, along with a number of corpus interrogation tools. The methodologies are the particular techniques devised by the research team to which the author belongs (the SiBol group) for employing these interrogation tools to shed light on the various research questions treated in the paper.
The first part of the paper outlines ways in which these tools and techniques can be used to track changes in the grammar, lexis and discourse practices of UK broadsheet or ‘quality’ newspapers. Given the important role of newspapers, some of these changes may well be indicative of general changes in UK written English. The second part, instead, describes a number of studies conducted by the research group into how the reporting of various social and cultural themes and issues, ranging from what is seen as a moral issue, to the rhetoric of appeals to science, to how antisemitism is debated, has developed over the time period in question. The concluding section discusses the relationship between the methodologies employed in modern diachronic corpus-assisted language studies and wider scientific research methodology.
SiBol is a portmanteau of Siena and Bologna, the two universities involved in initiating the project. http://www3.lingue.unibo.it/clb
Patterns and Meanings in Discourse
No full textThe present volume mixes theoretical discussions with practical demonstrations. It begins with introductory chapters defining terms and outlining the rationale and aims of the volume, the theoretical linguistic stance underpinning it and the overall methodologies to be used. After this introduction, each chapter begins by outlining a topic or an area in discourse studies, followed by descriptions of case studies which attempt both to shed light on particular themes or issues in this area and also and especially to demonstrate the methodologies which might be fruitfully employed to investigate such issues. Each chapter concludes with suggestions on activities which the readers may wish to undertake themselves. Finally, Appendix 1 contains a list of currently available resources for corpus linguistics research.
The topics for case study include studies in lexis, phraseology, syntax, text grammar, evaluative meaning, metaphor and “unusuality” (defined as the creative upsetting and exploitation of readers and hearers expectations of regularity in language). All of these concerns are present in the current work and are augmented by studies into author style, irony, spoken interaction, including face and politeness and diachronic studies of both linguistic and social, cultural and political changes over recent time
Building Grounded Theories of Management Action
Get PDFThis paper presents a structured approach to grounded theory-building. It is aimed at 'mode 2' (Gibbons et al., 1994 management researchers, in particular those who analyse recollections of past events, often recorded in interview data, to develop explanations of management action. Two characteristics of mode 2 enquiry - transdisciplinarity and an emphasis on tacit knowledge - make grounded theory potentially attractive to mode 2 researchers. However, the approach offered here differs in two important ways from the much-cited universal grounded theory model originated by Glaser and Strauss (1967) and later proceduralized by Strauss and Corbin (1990). First, it acknowledges that the form of theories of management action which will satisfy the contemporary demands of mode 2 research is different from the form of integrated sociological theory for which the original grounded theory approach was developed. Second, it takes account of differences between the ontological assumptions underlying the use of retrospective data for analysing management action, and those associated with participant observation, the pivotal strategy of grounded theory's symbolic interactionist roots. The result is a simplified, more direct approach which works for the specific purpose of generating useful, consensually valid theory
The production of management knowledge: philosophical underpinnings of research design
No full textNo abstract available
Deconstructing Scholarship: An Analysis of Research Methods Citations in the Organizational Sciences.
Get PDFUnderstanding the variety of different ways in which citations contribute to scholarly writing is an important part of the tacit knowledge possessed by experienced researchers. There is, however, little published work to help novice researchers develop this aspect of their craft. To address this issue, we present a framework of citation usage derived from inductive analysis of a selection of published articles and emphasize its relevance for research methods topics. This framework provides a template for structuring citation usage in academic research and a useful developmental tool for novice researchers
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