Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) is considered a universal marker of developmental dyslexia (DD) and could also be helpful to identify a reading deficit in minority-language children (MLC), in which it may be hard to disentangle whether the reading difficulties are due to a learning disorder or a lower proficiency in the language of instruction. We tested reading and rapid naming skills in monolingual Good Readers (mGR), monolingual Poor Readers (mPR), and MLC, by using our new version of RAN, the RAN-Shapes, (...) in 127 primary school students (from 3rd to 5th grade). In line with previous research, MLC showed, on average, lower reading performances as compared to mGR. However, the two groups performed similarly to the RAN-Shapes task. On the contrary, the mPR group underperformed both in the reading and the RAN tasks. Our findings suggest that reading difficulties and RAN performance can be dissociated in MLC; consequently, the performance at the RAN-Shapes may contribute to the identification of children at risk of a reading disorder without introducing any linguistic bias, when testing MLC. (shrink)

The paper endeavours to identify three fundamental approaches to the depiction of the urban space. The first is that of the chronicling traveller, for whom thespace is always identified with the aid of events and operations which transmute into performative markings. This approach was replaced at the beginning of the modern period by representation in the form of the map. The third approach is Barthes' perceptions of the city as the Argo and of the urban centre as the place of (...) encounter. Here the urban space is determined through the active participant in play and by his body. (shrink)

The paper focuses on the role of quantity in the studies of communication. The first step in the examination of the quantity of participants involved in the process of communication was the transition from the telegraphic model to the orchestra model. This step was done by the representatives of the New communication as well as in the course of the development of the semiotics studies. The second step leads us to the city model that can be found in Lévi-Strauss’ early (...) works. The city model enables us to take into account not only the unconscious and unintentional activities of the participants, but also the effects of multiplicity. One of the most important achievements of this approach is the idea of a collective intelligence. (shrink)

This paper begins by considering the specific position of philosophy on culture: philosophy is part of culture as well as being a reflection of the whole complex. Thus, culture finds in philosophy its own meta-cultural account. One of the results achieved by this philosophical approach might be the diagnosis of the cultural split and the symptoms of anthropological regress. On the other hand, the example of Michel de Certeau’s work shows us that from this point of view it is possible (...) to develop philosophical anthropology as a performative discipline, studying the activities of transformation, and appropriation at the level of everyday life. This anthropological approach leads us to an awareness of the principal openness of the cultural field and even to a new understanding of balkanization. (shrink)

This paper begins by considering the specific position of philosophy on culture: philosophy is part of culture as well as being a reflection of the whole complex. Thus, culture finds in philosophy its own meta-cultural account. One of the results achieved by this philosophical approach might be the diagnosis of the cultural split and the symptoms of anthropological regress. On the other hand, the example of Michel de Certeau’s work shows us that from this point of view it is possible (...) to develop philosophical anthropology as a performative discipline, studying the activities of transformation, and appropriation at the level of everyday life. This anthropological approach leads us to an awareness of the principal openness of the cultural field and even to a new understanding of balkanization. (shrink)

The paper deals with the concept of text, showing its transformations in semiotic studies. First the text is excluded from semiotics in favor of the system and its paradigmatic perspective, as shown in the works of L. Hjemslev. Then the meaning of the text is reconsidered as in later works of Barthes and mainly in the text theory of J. Kristeva. Both of them mark the transition to the further, poststructuralist stage of semiotics. This transformation made the text close to (...) the image of a network. The paper goes even further: Following B. Latour it tries to justify the acceptation of hybrids and impurities. Moreover, it requires not only a reconsideration of the philosophical method, but also an acceptation together with impurities the effects of balkanization. (shrink)