语言的非任意性

通过分析索绪尔关于语言的任意性原则和一些学者对语言任意性的解释,对任意性是语言的基本特征这一命题提出了疑问,并讨论了语言单位之间的理据性,语言和外部自然世界的某些联系以及语言和社会文化之间的关系,从而证明语言的非任意性是语言的主要特征.     

诗语的俗化和俗语的诗化

新时期的诗歌创作曾一度将诗语的典雅奇异推向一种极致,随后开始了面向生活语言的俗化的回归,一直发展到当下的“口水诗”,走到了另一个极端。与此同时,以歌词、短信等为代表的社会生活俗语,却出现了全面诗化的现象。诗语俗化和俗语诗化的文化背景和动因,可以概括为诗的娱乐化和娱乐的诗化。一方面,俗语作为娱乐的一部分需要审美的诗意元素的参与;另一方面,诗歌为了迎合娱乐和市场的需要则选择了全面俗化,诗语的俗化正是其中的一个重要侧面。     

语文课堂教学中的创新教育

实行教学民主 ,优化创新环境应是语文课堂教学中实施创新教育的前提。因为创新活动是一种复杂的心理过程 ,它将会引起一系列的心理反应 ,同时也受其他心理因素的制约 ,所以实行教学民主 ,创设宽松的、自由的、民主的良好心理环境尤为必要。加强创新能力培养 ,强化创新训练 ,是语文课堂教学中实施创新教育的目的。创新能力就是在已有知识、经验的基础上 ,经过独立的分析、综合、联想、想像、比较、抽象和概括后所获得的能力。所以 ,创新能力的培养 ,还在于多方面开辟创新思维的活动空间 ,让学生在独立开启创造性思维中发展个性 ,促使创新意识的产生和能力的形成     

The white native speaker and inequality regimes in the private English language school

Private English language schools market the language as a tool that helps one connect with others from different cultures. Despite their promotion of English aiding in intercultural communication, these institutions may believe that only the white native speaker is the ideal teacher of the language. This valuing of the white native speaker can consequently act as an organisational inequality regime that marginalises nonwhite teachers. Using qualitative interviews with 10 nonwhite instructors working in schools in Toronto, Canada, this article investigates the ways in which these teachers experience the inequality regime of the white native speaker at work. The findings indicate that the teachers experience this inequality regime as a series of microaggressions that involve space, competence and customer desire. The article concludes with suggestions to dismantle inequality regimes in private institutions.     

On the conditions of authority in academic publics

The discourse of some of the most powerful public figures in today’s world is often incoherent and nonsensical. Incoherent yet authoritative discourse shows that authority does not rest in language but results from non‐linguistic and pre‐textual conditions. The non‐linguistic and pre‐textual conditions are exemplified in an Australian case‐study of a media debate between the Immigration Minister and a refugee, drawing on research by Smith‐Khan (2019a, 2019b). Two such conditions are then examined with reference to academic publics. First, I ask which languages do or do not carry authority, before moving on to speaker identity as a condition of authority. The close association between English and academic excellence has resulted in diminishing the authority of academic publications in languages other than English. The same is true of publications by women and people of colour. I close by reflecting on referencing practices as forms of extending authoritativeness to voices in excluded languages and from excluded scholars in academic publics.     

Design of ISD-1: an instrument for social diagnosis in care homes for older persons*

This article describes the design process and main features of an instrument developed for use in the specialist area of intervention in care homes for older persons. The essential aim of ISD-1 (instrument for social diagnosis) is to permit the correct formulation of social diagnoses and to standardise and define the professional language used by social workers. Its content has been organised into 4 dimensions of social diagnosis, divided into 15 sub-dimensions containing 83 diagnostic categories. This work was performed in Spain, in the 24 care homes of the Madrid Social Care Agency of the Community of Madrid, involving the participation of the 40 social workers practising in these centres. ISD-1 is an easily understood and used tool, of potential use for social workers practising in care homes for older persons and capable of being adapted for use in other institutional environments, as well as being capable of adaptation and translation for its application in other countries.     

The covariance of the backward and forward recurrence times in a renewal process: the stationary case and asymptotics for the ordinary case

In a Poisson process, it is well-known that the forward and backward recurrence times at a given time point t are independent random variables. In a renewal process, although the joint distribution of these quantities is known (asymptotically), it seems that very few results regarding their covariance function exist. In the present paper, we study this covariance and, in particular, we state both necessary and sufficient conditions for it to be positive, zero or negative in terms of reliability classifications and the coefficient of variation of the underlying inter-renewal and the associated equilibrium distribution. Our results apply either for an ordinary renewal process in the steady state or for a stationary process.     

On a control chart for the Gini index with simulations

In this work we suggest the use of the Gini index on control charts. The asymptotic properties of Gini index are presented and the control charts based on appropriate confidence intervals are constructed. The suitability of the proposed charts are investigated by means of extensive simulations.     

English and discourses of commodification among tourism workers in the Himalayas

In this article, I investigate commodification discourses and ideologies of English from the perspective of Nepali tourism workers. Drawing data from interviews with porters and trekking guides in Nepal, I argue that English is not seen as merely a transactional means to convey meaning; it works in combination with the traditional form of labor and care in the local economy, establishing itself as a powerful tool to establish closer interpersonal relationships, enhance such interpersonal relationships for economic gains and commodify local identities and cultures in the tourism market. The interview and ethnographic details show that language learners are agentive and capable of making sense of their actions by positioning themselves variously in terms of ethnicity, economic class and job category. These workers think that tourists' linguistic and financial resources are the empowering tools that enable them to travel to locations that they want. They also want to empower themselves with English skills and translocal imaginaries to travel and see the world beyond their immediate reach. Repertoires in English are considered as instruments to mediate their imaginaries and the foreign worlds they want to be part of.     

The dynamics of citizen sociolinguistics

The objective of this paper is to explore the dynamics of citizen science (CS) in sociolinguistics or citizen sociolinguistics, i.e. the engagement of non‐professionals in doing sociolinguistic research. Based on a CS‐study undertaken in Norway where we engaged young people as citizen scientists to explore linguistic diversity, this paper aims to clarify the definition of citizen sociolinguistics; it seeks to advance the discussion of the advantages of CS and of how CS can contribute to sociolinguistics; it also addresses the opposite: how sociolinguistics can contribute to the general field of citizen science; and it discusses the challenges of a CS‐methodology for sociolinguistic research, epistemologically and ethically, as well as in terms of recruitment, quality control and possible types of sociolinguistic tasks and topics. To meet the needs of society and societal challenges of today there is a need to develop methods and establish scientific acceptance for the relevance of public engagement in research. This paper argues that citizen sociolinguistics has the potential to advance the societal impact of sociolinguistics by constructing a dialogue between ‘the academy’ and ‘the citizens’; citizen sociolinguistics relies on and encourages participatory citizen agency, provides research experience, stimulates curiosity, further research, public understanding of science and (socio)linguistic awareness, and encourages linguistic stewardship.