Linguists and other animals

Book reviewed in this article:
Joan Dunayer, Animal Equality: Language and Liberation     

能效标识对节能产品选择的引导效用分析——基于京东家电线上销售的实证检验

搜集冰箱、洗衣机、空调三种大家电的线上销售数据,通过描述性分析、组间差异比较、多元回归分析等方式分析能效标识的市场引导效果。结果显示消费者对不同等级家电产品的选择量存在差异,但不同能效等级间消费者满意度并无明显差异,能效等级并非是影响消费者选择和满意度的显著因素。     

‘I am studying in the US but’: observations and insights from Caribbean college students

This paper examines the experiences and views of 12 Caribbean students studying at four Liberal Arts colleges and one large university in the Northeast, USA. The purpose of the study was to ascertain how young educated potential immigrants to the US today are thinking about race, identity, and homeland. The data were gathered through a 12-item open-ended questionnaire electronically administered through Google Forms. Among other issues, the researcher wanted to learn about participants’: decision to study in the US, experiences with race, identity and attitudinal shifts, feelings about being assigned racial labels, and current thinking about returning to their home countries. The findings highlight the acceptance of racial labels except for ‘African American’, a dogged adherence to national identity, the challenge of adjusting to the US racialized space, the view of the US as an education and economic transitional point for migrants on their return journey to their home countries, the formulation of new understandings and attitudes regarding mixed ancestry, and the defining role of sexual orientation in the attitude towards home country versus the US.     

Exploring how the social model of disability can be re-invigorated for autism: in response to Jonathan Levitt

Levitt argues that the social model of disability needs to be re-invigorated, potentially by adapting the tool for separate countries. The social model has been successfully applied for some disabled groups in the United Kingdom. However, the social model is not implemented for neurodivergent labels such as autism, through the negative language of autism, causing severe problems for autistic individuals’ daily lives. The social model can be re-invigorated for autism, removing social barriers by changing non-autistic people’s attitudes towards autism through ensuring positive language of autism, preventing the categorisation of autism and fully enacting The Autism Act 2009 and The Equality Act 2010.     

从用户视角探索英语学习词典语法标注的发展趋势——兼评历版《牛津高阶学习词典》中的语法标注

《牛津高阶学习词典》从1948年出版以来，迄今为止已经先后经历六次改版。每个版本都各有特色，同时又在已往各版的基础上有所创新。对世界词典编纂的发展产生了深远的影响。本文基于语法标注在学习型词典编撰中的重要意义，从用户视角出发，综合评述了各版《牛津高阶学习词典》中的语法标注。在此基础上提出了今后英语学习词典语法标注的发展趋势。     

村落纠纷中的“外人”

本文通过对一个村落中关于“外人”的纠纷的全面考察，发现村落社区中存在着事实上的“外人”，他们受到了村落共同体特定的歧视性待遇，而村民对此习以为常，并认为这样是合理的。基于这种生活逻辑，在纠纷中，“外人”常常作为一个符号被人为地建构出来，这是因为在特定的村落文化中，符号是同力量和可利用的资源相联系的。     

中国农民工政策过程的批评话语分析——基于“农民工”称谓演变的视角

对"农民工"称谓演变的微观话语分析发现,农民工政策话语在建构社会的同时,也受制于社会结构.我国政府处理农民工事务的行动逻辑正逐步从"服务于经济发展"转向"关注社会民生".政策变迁映射和推动了社会变迁,我国农村向城市的人口流动在经历"严苛管制"自由流动"历程后,正朝着渐进式市民化方向发展.研究还发现,批评话语分析视角下的微观话语解构是政策分析的有效切入点,有助于唤起更深刻理性的政策协商,促进社会公平.     

A Label Superiority Effect in Children's Categorization of Facial Expressions

In three studies (N's = 360, 68, 160), children (2 to 7 years of age) were asked to categorize various facial expressions. The emotion category was specified to the child by its label (such as happy), its facial expression (such as a smile), or both. From the youngest to the oldest children and for all 3 emotion categories examined (happiness, anger, and sadness), results showed a Label Superiority Effect: emotion labels resulted in more accurate categorization than did the corresponding facial expression. Errors conformed to a structural model emphasizing the dimension of pleasure‐displeasure.     

Risk Assessment for Carcinogens Under California''s Proposition 65

Risk assessments for carcinogens are being developed through an accelerated process in California as a part of the state's implementation of Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act. Estimates of carcinogenic potency made by the California Department of Health Services (CDHS) are generally similar to estimates made by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The largest differences are due to EPA's use of the maximum likelihood estimate instead of CDHS' use of the upper 95% confidence bounds on potencies derived from human data and to procedures used to correct for studies of short duration or with early mortality. Numerical limits derived from these potency estimates constitute "no significant risk" levels, which govern exemption from Proposition 65's discharge prohibition and warning requirements. Under Proposition 65 regulations, lifetime cancer risks less than 10(-5) are not significant and cumulative intake is not considered. Following these regulations, numerical limits for a number of Proposition 65 carcinogens that are applicable to the control of toxic discharges are less stringent than limits under existing federal water pollution control laws. Thus, existing federal limits will become the Proposition 65 levels for discharge. Chemicals currently not covered by federal and state controls will eventually be subject to discharge limitations under Proposition 65. "No significant risk" levels (expressed in terms of daily intake of carcinogens) also trigger warning requirements under Proposition 65 that are more extensive than existing state or federal requirements. A variety of chemical exposures from multiple sources are identified that exceed Proposition 65's "no significant risk" levels.     

Sustainable consumption and third-party certification labels: Consumers’ perceptions and reactions

Compared with conventional products, sustainable products continue to attract relatively lower market shares. To increase customer acceptance, many sustainable products feature third-party certification labels (TPCL), yet it is unclear whether TPCL are effective and what processes and boundary conditions define their role in consumer decision making. Across three experimental studies, this research determines that sustainable products are characterized by credence qualities, associated with increased perceptions of risk, which negatively influence consumers' purchase intentions. Drawing on signaling theory, this study also shows that TPCL on sustainable products provide brand-like information cues that reduce the perceived risk of sustainable products. Finally, a third experimental study demonstrates that consumers must perceive TPCL as credible for them to reduce consumers’ risk perceptions.