Phonetics,phonology and social meaning

Linguistic variation has consistently been found to have social meaning in its association with the status and stance of speakers in the context of interaction. This indexical function of variation can contribute to the advancement of ongoing linguistic change. Style shifting in individual sociolinguistic interviews is an indirect indication of social meaning, but the clearest demonstrations are found in studies of speakers in a range of social contexts. We explore and clarify the nature of social meaning in variation, and its relation to linguistic change. Phonological variables are most readily adapted to convey social meaning by their frequency, flexibility and freedom from referential functions. After providing several kinds of evidence of social meaning in phonological variation, we argue that meaning accrues specifically to concrete sounds – to phonetic elements – and not to the phonological structures in which those sounds participate. Mergers, near mergers, splits, chain shifts and parallel shifts are not generally objects of social perception, conscious or unconscious, and are motivated by more abstract principles of change.     

Patterns and correlates of co‐occurrence among multiple types of child maltreatment

This study examined the patterns and correlates of the types of maltreatment experienced by adolescents aged 9–12, participating in an ongoing longitudinal study on the impact of neglect on children's development. Using case record abstraction, the study compared the child protection classification and findings from the case record abstraction with regard to the rates of four types of maltreatment (i.e. physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect) as well as co‐occurrence across multiple types of maltreatment. Next, the study examined the frequently observed patterns of child maltreatment. Finally, the study investigated whether aspects of caretaker functioning and the detailed incident characteristics in the cases of neglect differed by the number of different types of maltreatment the children experienced. Results showed significant discrepancies between the Child Protective Service classification and case record abstraction. Child Protective Service classification considerably underestimated the rate of co‐occurrence across multiple types of maltreatment. Neglect accompanied by physical and emotional abuse was the most common form. Some of the caretaker functioning variables distinguished the number of types of maltreatment. Based on the findings, future‐research directions and practice implication were discussed.     

Physical and social barriers to social relationships: voices of rural disabled women in the USA

Through exploring the lived experiences of disabled women, this study investigates how physical and social barriers affect their social relationships. In‐depth tape‐recorded interviews investigating a variety of social and interpersonal issues were conducted with 24 women with physical or visual impairments who lived in a rural region of the midwestern USA. Using content analysis, the researchers examined interview data for common themes and patterns relating to social relationships. The findings indicate that physical barriers, related to the physical environment and personal physicality, along with social barriers, involving preconceptions of others about impairment and restrictions in personal networks, hamper the initiation and maintenance of social relationships. Further, the experiences of this group of disabled women corresponded most closely with the premises of a social relational understanding of disability.     

Can 18‐Month‐Old Infants Learn Words by Listening In on Conversations?

Previous research has shown that children as young as 2 can learn words from 3rd‐party conversations (Akhtar, Jipson, & Callanan, 2001). The focus of this study was to determine whether younger infants could learn a new word through overhearing. Novel object labels were introduced to 18‐month‐old infants in 1 of 2 conditions: directly by an experimenter or in the context of overhearing the experimenter use the word while interacting with another adult. The findings suggest that, when memory demands are not too high, 18‐month‐old infants can learn words through overhearing.     

Logistic regression and latent class models for estimating positivities in diagnostic assays with poor resolution

In biomedical research and diagnostic practice it is common to classify objects dichotomously based on continuous observations (x) measuring some form of biological activity, where some proportion of the objects have a level of activity above background. In this paper, we consider the problem of estimating the proportion of positive objects for a typical assay where:(i) the distribution of x for positive objects is unknown. although (ii) the risk of positivity is known to be a monotonic function of x:and (iii) x has been measured for a set of negative control objects. Monte Carlo simulations evaluating four alternative estimators of the positivity, including novel non-parametric mixture decompositions, indicate that where the positives and negatives have distributions of x with a moderate degree of overlap, a non-parametric decomposition using a latent class model provides precise and close to unbiased estimates. The methods are illustrated using data from an autoradiography assay used in cell biology.     

Body Image among Women with Physical Disabilities: Internalization of Norms and Reactions to Nonconformity

Abstract

Body norms for women are based on stereotypical gender expectations regarding physical appearance. Although women in general are exposed to societal standards of the ideal body, women with physical disabilities encounter unique circumstances in meeting these expectations. Women with physical disabilities are often stigmatized because they violate norms of body aesthetics and body shape. This research examines the extent to which women with physical disabilities internalize body norms and the reactions these women have to their nonconformity to societal body standards. In-depth tape-recorded interviews, investigating a variety of social and interpersonal issues, were conducted with 21 female university students with physical disabilities. Using content analysis, the researchers examined the interviews for common themes and patterns relating to body image. The major categories that emerged were (1) awareness of body norms, (2) compliance with body norms, and (3) reactions to nonconformity to body norms. The study illustrates that women with physical disabilities have two general reactions to societal expectations of the ideal female body: emotional responses and stigma management. The lack of questioning of cultural body norms by respondents is discussed as it relates to the rural, small town study location.     

Moving The Mentally Ill Into The Community: The Problem Of Acceptance And The Effect Of Contact

Community acceptance of the mentally ill is fundamental to a successful change to community-based care, now being implemented in New South Wales. This policy was based on an inquiry that viewed acceptance optimistically and postulated that contact with the mentally ill would be a favourable influence. The applicability of this extension of the ‘contact hypothesis’ from its original racial context is tested in one area of Sydney. The results indicate that the type of contact arising from community mental health facilities is not an effective catalyst of relevant attitude change, and suggest particular difficulties among the lower two socioeconomic classes.