Sociolinguistic interaction and identity construction: The view from game‐theoretic pragmatics

Understanding the dynamics that characterize interaction between conversational participants is a fundamental goal of most theories of socially conditioned language use and identity construction through language. In this paper, I outline a class of formal tools that, I suggest, can be helpful in making progress towards this goal. More precisely, this paper explores how Bayesian signalling game models can be used to formalize key aspects of current sociolinguistic theories, and, in doing so, contribute to our knowledge of how speakers use their linguistic resources to communicate information and carve out their place in the social world. The Bayesian framework has become increasingly popular for the analysis of pragmatic phenomena of many different types, and, more generally, these models have become a dominant paradigm for the explanation of non‐linguistic cognitive processes. As such, I argue that this approach has the potential to yield a formalized theory of personal and social identity construction and to situate the study of sociolinguistic interaction within a broader theory of rationalistic cognition.     

‘Can I borrow your glasses?’: a prescription for learning to see the cultural roots of identity terms and implicit categories through others’ lenses

Why is there so much confusion and conflict around common identity labels, a problem that extends well beyond any stereotypes that they may evoke? How do we escape the seeming paradox that we reject racism but still speak frequently of black and white? Who claims the power to determine or name others’ identities? The confusion and conflict about identity that play out on a surface level are often caused by starkly different but implicit understandings that operate beneath the surface. For example, terms like black, Jewish and Muslim may invoke several of our deeper conceptions or categories like race, culture, religion and ethnicity, and to varying degrees in different places. Critically, these categories themselves are culturally rooted. This article shows how our implicit categories can lead to both cross-cultural confusion and problematic misunderstandings in course content. Helping students to recognise and to understand the cultural roots of our implicit categories should be a deliberate learning outcome. This type of cultural understanding can be advanced significantly through guided reflection on experience and explicit instruction; in addition, some subjects and approaches – intercultural education, study abroad and Holocaust education among them – show particular promise for achieving this aim.     

Asymptotic behaviour of proportions of observations in random regions determined by central order statistics from stationary processes

In this paper, we show that proportions of observations that fall into a random region determined by a given Borel set and a central order statistic converge almost surely, provided that the corresponding population quantile is unique. We also describe three types of possible asymptotic behaviour of these proportions in the case of non-unique population quantile. As an application of our findings we establish limiting properties of numbers of ties with a central order statistics in a discrete sample. Our results are derived not only for independent and identically distributed observations but more generally for strictly stationary and ergodic sequences of random variables.     

Bayesian prediction of order statistics with fixed and random sample sizes based on k-record values from Pareto distribution

In this paper, the two-parameter Pareto distribution is considered and the problem of prediction of order statistics from a future sample and that of its geometric mean are discussed. The Bayesian approach is applied to construct predictors based on observed k-record values for the cases when the future sample size is fixed and when it is random. Several Bayesian prediction intervals are derived. Finally, the results of a simulation study and a numerical example are presented for illustrating all the inferential procedures developed here.     

Comparison of preliminary test estimators based on generalized order statistics from proportional hazard family using Pitman measure of closeness

In this article, based on generalized order statistics from a family of proportional hazard rate model, we use a statistical test to generate a class of preliminary test estimators and shrinkage preliminary test estimators for the proportionality parameter. These estimators are compared under Pitman measure of closeness (PMC) as well as MSE criteria. Although the PMC suffers from non transitivity, in the first class of estimators, it has the transitivity property and we obtain the Pitman-closest estimator. Analytical and graphical methods are used to show the range of parameter in which preliminary test and shrinkage preliminary test estimators perform better than their competitor estimators. Results reveal that when the prior information is not too far from its real value, the proposed estimators are superior based on both mentioned criteria.     

Sexual Orientation in State Hate Crime Laws: Exploring Social Construction and Criminal Law

Several studies have described and analyzed the development and diffusion of hate crime laws in the United States, but none specifically examined state-level differences in protected categories. Forty-five of the 50 states have a hate crime statute, but only 30 of those include sexual orientation. In this study the social construction framework is applied to the hate crime policy domain in order to determine whether or not variations in the social and political status of gays and lesbians are associated with the inclusion of sexual orientation in state hate crime laws. Content analysis of daily newspapers in six states revealed that a positive social construction is associated with groups seeking hate crime law protections, and that political influence may also be a key factor.     

Fabric that weaves stories: Pua kumbu and contemporary Iban identity construction in Sarawak,Malaysia

This article examines the process of identity construction among the Iban indigenous people of Sarawak in Malaysia through pua kumbu – their sacred and ritual cloth. Although the Ibans are popularly known for their headhunting practices and longhouse dwellings, these cultural practices are in major decline and therefore pua kumbu is brought to the forefront as a significant means of identity construction. By illustrating the meanings, narratives, and ceremonies associated with pua kumbu, this article demonstrates that pua kumbu is not just a piece of sacred or ritual cloth; rather, it has significant meanings in the everyday life of the Ibans. It connects the Ibans with distinctly eternal meanings of their life and cosmology, past histories, and their connections to the physical environment. It thus helps the process of maintaining a boundary and identity construction of the Ibans by distinguishing between ‘us and them’ – the Ibans and others.     

“给力”的隐喻性语义泛化及其语境意义构建

"给力"通过语义隐喻、语义抽象和语义含混三个阶段,形成最终的泛化含义。     

中原经济区建设中的城建档案信息资源开发

城建档案信息对城市的发展具有重要价值。中原经济区建设战略的实施,必将使城市建设规模迅速扩大,由此形成的城建档案数量急剧增多。重视城建档案信息资源的收集、整理,充分开发利用城建档案资源,不断提高其利用率,是发挥档案信息资源效益服务中原经济区建设的一条重要途径。