104,649 research outputs found
CATEGORIZATION AS AN AD HOC PROCESS IN DISCOURSE
No full textWhen speakers interact, they constantly co-construct categories, guiding each other towards an incremental and dialogic process of reference identification. Yet what do we know about the actual role played by language in category construction? While the cognitive literature on categorization has mainly understood language as reflecting categorization and providing (more or less precise) labels to name concepts, a closer look at naturally-occurring data shows that the role of language goes far beyond mirroring cognition. Speakers’ morphological, syntactic, and discursive choices indeed crucially contribute to category construction, creatively modifying ‘labels’ available in the lexicon and incrementally leading interlocutors to a shared target
Liste, listine e listarelle. Polynomial evaluative constructions as a device for ad hoc categorization in Italian
No full textIn this paper I would like to investigate a particular type of polynomial constructions appearing in colloquial current Italian. In such constructions, a base noun N is found – within the same syntactic and argumental slot – in (syndetic or asyndetic) coordination with an n number of accumulated ‘altered’ nominal forms (Nem) of N itself, obtained through evaluative affixation. Before delving into exemplification, I define evaluative affixes as morphological means, “borderline between derivation and inflection” (Scalise 1984: 132), used to express augmentation/diminution, attenuation/intensification, endearment/contempt (cf. Grandi & Körtvélyessy 2015). As shown by Grandi & Montermini (2005), Italian features both prefixal and suffixal evaluative affixes (with the latter being the most prototypical evaluative strategy), which can be divided into several groups: diminutives (e.g. mini-, micro-; -etto, -ino), augmentatives (e.g. maxi-, mega-, stra-; -one), hypocorisms (e.g. -ello, -uccio), pejoratives (e.g. -accio), intensifiers (e.g. iper-, super-, -issimo) and reducers/negators (e.g. anti-, contro-, pseudo-, -icchio) (cf. Grandi & Körtvélyessy 2015: 9-10).
Examples (1) and (2) provide instances of the [N+Nem(+Nem)n] construction described above. Note that example (1) constitutes a specific subtype of the construction under discussion, featuring a binomial pattern where Nem is a potential antonym of N.
(1) evaluative prefixation
[I Romani si servivano di falci] utili nella guerra di macchine e contromacchine, invenzioni e controinvenzioni, che gli Antichi praticavano almeno dall'Ellenismo in poi [...]
‘[The Romans used sickles]’ useful in the war of various machines, inventions and the like (lit. ‘machines and counter-machines, inventions and counter-inventions’), which Ancient people had been using at least from the Hellenistic period onwards [...]’.
(Pietro Ianni, Il mare degli antichi, p.302).
(2) evaluative suffixation
La paura fa l'unione... del centrodestra in Sicilia. Sapendo di essere a rischio di estinzione, tutti i pezzi, pezzettini e pezzettoni si sono trasformati in un composto dall'odore strano.
‘Fear results in... the union of center-right wing parties in Sicily. Aware of the risk of extinction, all of its bits and pieces (lit. ‘pieces, little pieces and big pieces’) have turned into a strange-smelling mixture)’.
(https://livesicilia.it/2017/09/02/elezioni-regionali-sicilia-centrodestra-busalacchi-musumeci-armao-lagalla_884688/)
What emerges from the two examples provided above is that the [N+Nem(+Nem)n] construction, rather than contributing to an evaluative specification of the semantics of the nouns macchine ‘machines’ and invenzioni ‘inventions’ in (1), and pezzi in (2) and seems to contribute to the identification of two extemporaneous categories – namely, CONTRAPTIONS NEEDED TO WIN A WAR for (1) and TRANSFORMIST POLITICAL PARTIES AND POLITICIANS for (2) – which are needed to clarify the subjects at stake.
In this respect, the [N+Nem(+Nem)n] construction may well be treated as an example of list, defined by Masini et al. (2018: 50) as a “syntagmatic concatenation of two or more units of the same type (i.e. potentially paradigmatically connected) that are on a par with each other, thus filling one and the same slot within the larger construction they are part of”. Indeed, lists are claimed by the authors to convey a large array of functions (see also Bonvino et al. 2009), which include precisely categorization or hypernym-creation. A function that seems to be performed by the [N+Nem(+Nem)n] constructions in (1) and (2).
As signalled by Masini et al. (2018: 68), the hypernymic category-creating function is closely related to the concept of ad hoc categories, defined by Barsalou (cf. 1991, 2010) as new, spontaneously constructed, categories aimed to achieve goals relevant to the communicative situation. Ad hoc categories are traditionally opposed to stable categories in that the former (i) are spontaneous and they do not reside in long-term memory; (ii) unlike stable categories, are not identified through specialized familiar words and are verbalized by complex expressions (cf. ANIMALS, FOOD vs. TOURIST ACTIVITIES TO PERFORM IN BEIJING); (iii) ad hoc categories are highly context-dependent and are created online as communication unfolds. In order for ad hoc categories to be perceived as such, their verbalization strategies need to be characterized by “the explicit mention of one or more exemplars, used as a starting point to infer some high-order entity” (Mauri et al. 2018: 4). Once the starting point is identified, additional implicit elements can be associated to the explicit element by virtue of a shared, contextually relevant property which turns both the explicit and the implicit elements into members of a single category showing that particular property. To these implicit and explicit elements, other implicit elements can be more or less approximately added if endowed with the categorical property. Thus, “the identity of the members of the category may be vague, but the category as such must be defined unambiguously, on the basis of the property P relevant to the specific context” (Mauri et al. 2018: 4; see also Mauri & Sansò 2018, Mauri & Sansò forth).
Let us consider some more examples to see how the notion of ad hoc category applies to [N+Nem(+Nem)n] list constructions.
(3) Inizio con il dirvi che la mia è stata una vacanza condita da pizze, pizzette, pizzettine e dolciumi (tantissimi!).
‘I’ll start telling you that my holiday has been full of pizza and many delicious things (lit. ‘pizzas, little pizzas, very little pizzas and (a lot of) sweets’)’.
https://www.lotusflowerpcos.com/prendersi-cura-della-pelle-estate/
(4) Quando scendi dal treno in Cadorna, e ti avvii verso la metropolitana [...], non puoi non notare coltelli, coltellini, coltellacci e katane e strumenti di "difesa" personale.
‘When you get off the train in Cadorna, and you head to the underground station [...], you cannot avoid noticing knives, daggers, katanas (lit. ‘knives, little knives, bad knives and katanas’) and self-defence weapons ’
https://www.yelp.com/biz/fortuna-milano-2?hrid=Lgmb6jnXe6dQNjbikwJeng
(5) Ho acquistato diversi libri sulla tintura e ho scoperto nuove ricette di mordenzatura per le fibre vegetali. Così tutti i giorni continuo a mettere su pentole, pentolini, pentoloni, vasi di vetro...
‘I have bought many books on dyeing and I have discovered new recipes for mordants of natural fibers. So, every day I keep uploading pots and hobs, glass vases (lit. ‘little pots, big pots’)...’
https://officinadelcolorenaturale.com/2014/07/24/pentole-e-colori/
In (3), (4), (5) we find the immediate identification of an explicit element – pizze ‘pizzas’ in (3), coltelli ‘knives’ in (4), pentole ‘pots’ in (5) – which immediately defines the property crucial for the online creation of an ad hoc category – TASTY FOOD TO EAT ON HOLIDAY in (3), WEAPONS FOR SELF-DEFENCE in (4), CONTAINERS FOR DYEING in (5). At this point, the activation of the inference chain that links other implicit elements to the property of the explicit one is favoured by the explicit mention of a Nem which, rather than adding a further property, re-launches the original one by reproducing the N base, also introducing the idea of ‘and the like’ thanks to the presence of evaluative morphology– which actually occurs in all the forms described above: diminutive in (3), (4) and (5),pejorative in (4), augmentative in (5). Differently from (1) and (2), examples (3), (4), (5) also suggest that a further nominal element (N2) can be added syndedically to the list to better specify the common property – e dolciumi ‘and sweet things’ in (3), katane ‘katanas’ in (4), vasi ‘vases’ in (5) – without necessarily having to show any evaluative marker or lexical similarity to the original N.
At this point a number of questions arise: (i) are there any types of lexical restrictions in the use of evaluative morphology for the creation of hypernymic lists? (ii) is there a specific functional pattern that triggers the introduction of N2 in the list? (iii) are [N+Nem(+Nem)n] lists only bi- and tri-nomial or can other altered forms of N be accumulated in the list?
In order to provide further insights on the four issues just mentioned, data analysis will be carried out on corpora of spoken Italian and web-based dataset
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
The construction of Karen Karnak: The multi-author-function
No full textThis thesis is situated within the comparatively recent developments of Web 2.0 and the emergence of interactive WikiMedia, and explores the mode of authorship within a Read/Write culture compared to that of a Read/Only tradition. The hypothesis of this study is that the role of the audience has become merged with the author, and as such, represents new functions and attributes, distinct from a more conventional concept of authorship, in which the roles of audience and author are more separate. Read/Write and participatory culture, as defined by this study, is focused on collaboration, and includes the influences of D.I.Y. culture, Open-Source practices and the production of text by multiple authors. Multi-authorship presents a re-thinking of several concepts which support the notion of the individual author, since the focus of multi-authorship is not on attribution and ownership of a finished text, but on the continued malleability of a text. Modes of multi-authorship, demonstrated in the use of the pseudonyms Alan Smithee and Karen Eliot, represent declarative authors whose names signify multiple origins, whilst concurrently indicating a distinct body of work. The function of these names form an important context to this study, since primary research involves the construction of an experimental mode of multi-authorship utilising WikiMedia technology and the interaction of thirty nine participants, who are invited to create a body of work under the collective pseudonym Karen Karnak. The data generated by this experiment is analysed using aspects of Michel Foucault's author-function to identify and determine power structures inherent in the WikiMedia context. The interplay of power structures, including concepts such as identity, ownership and the body of work, affect the resulting mode of authorship and contribute to the construction of Karen Karnak, suggesting further areas of research into the emerging multi-author
Contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Country’S H-Index
No full textThe aim of this study is to examine the effect of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development on country’s scientific ranking as measured by H-index. Moreover, this study applies ICT development sub-indices including ICT Use, ICT Access and ICT skill to find the distinct effect of these sub-indices on country’s H-index. To this purpose, required data for the panel of 14 Middle East countries over the period 1995 to 2009 is collected. Findings of the current study show that ICT development increases the H-index of the sample countries. The results also indicate that ICT Use and ICT Skill sub-indices positively contribute to higher H-index but the effect of ICT access on country’s H-index is not clear
Fully Turbulent Mean Velocity Profile for Purely Viscous non-Newtonian Fluids
No full textThe characteristic near wall behavior of turbulent flow of purely-viscous non-Newtonian fluids is discussed for both power-law (P.-L.) and Herschel-Bulkley (H.-B.) rheological models. A proper scaling is presented for H.-B. fluids to establish an analogy with power-law fluids with same flow index. To provide reference data for turbulent flow of non-Newtonian fluids, DNS simulations of power-law fluids are conducted in a rectangular channel for a large range of power-law indices ( = 0.5, 0.69, 0.75, 0.9, 1, 1.2). The DNS data show that the mean velocity profile in the viscous and logarithmic layers follow expressions of the form and respectively, where shows a logarithmic dependency on the flow index.Comparison with some experimental data shows the above formulation to be valid for Reynolds numbers (based on shear velocity) as high as 1000
H-index and research evaluation: A suggested set of components for developing a comprehensive author-level index
No full textThe H-index has been investigated in various studies; this index has many strengths that have made it popular. However, it also has weaknesses, due to which other indicators have been developed. This study aims to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the H-index and provide the minimum set of necessary components for developing a comprehensive author-level index. In this systematic literature review, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, Emerald, and ProQuest databases were searched to identify relevant studies. From the number of 14,253 retrieved studies, after two stages of screening, 81 studies were selected according to the eligibility criteria for data extraction. The findings of the study led to the identification of 15 strengths in the three categories of Quality Features, Simplicity, and Suitability, and 13 weaknesses in the six categories of Publications, Citations, Academic Age, Author Credit Allocation, Variety of Fields, and mathematical calculation for H-index. Finally, 28 components were identified as the minimum set of necessary components to develop a comprehensive author-level index to help evaluate researchers more realistically and fairly. The minimum components that need to be considered in developing a comprehensive author-level index can be proposed as follows: Quality Features, Simplicity, Suitability, Publications, Citations, Academic Age, Author Credit Allocation, Variety of Fields, and mathematical calculation
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