Die Buchreihe Linguistische Arbeiten hat mit über 500 Bänden zur linguistischen Theoriebildung der letzten Jahrzehnte in Deutschland und international wesentlich beigetragen. Die Reihe wird auch weiterhin neue Impulse für die Forschung setzen und die zentrale Einsicht der Sprachwissenschaft präsentieren, dass Fortschritt in der Erforschung der menschlichen Sprachen nur durch die enge Verbindung von empirischen und theoretischen Analysen sowohl diachron wie synchron möglich ist. Daher laden wir hochwertige linguistische Arbeiten aus allen zentralen Teilgebieten der allgemeinen und einzelsprachlichen Linguistik ein, die aktuelle (...) Fragestellungen bearbeiten, neue Daten diskutieren und die Theorieentwicklung vorantreiben. (shrink)

The primary languages used in this region are Cantonese, Hokkienese, and Hakka Dialec, each with distinct dialects and local vocabulary, reflecting the local lifestyle and culture. This study had three main objectives: 1) To Scope on important characteristic of Lingnan identity, 2) To create Identity of Lingnan to products and 3) To complete the design Handbook and product design. The study involved a sample group consisting of experts in Lingnan cultural identity, product designers, and entrepreneurs, and the overall research (...) population included 400 individuals interested in these products. Based on insights from the Handbook for Designing Cultural Products, the study developed the Lingnan cultural identity Handbook for Product Design (e-book). The study utilized an experimental research design and employed interviews and a satisfaction questionnaire as research instruments. This study synthesized, analyzed, and translated the collected data into Lingnan symbols, then compiled descriptive interpretations. The statistical methods used. The research findings revealed prominent elements of Lingnan cultural identity, including Chen Clan Temple, Wo'er House, Manchuria Window, Dragon Boat, Suixi Lion Dance, and Guangdong Opera. The region's geography and history deeply ingrain these cultural elements, showcasing the adaptability and wisdom of the local population. The product design concept focused on the creative process, emphasizing the development of products that meet market demands while considering utility, beauty, and value for product users. The evaluation of the Handbook indicated a high level of overall satisfaction (x̄=3.53). Among the three forms of cultural products, the first had the highest level of overall satisfaction (x̄=4.06), followed by the second with a high level of overall satisfaction (x̄=3.83), and the last with a high level of overall satisfaction (x̄=3.73). (shrink)

In this article we discuss the aspects of designing facial expressions for virtual humans (VHs) with a specific culture. First we explore the notion of cultures and its relevance for applications with a VH. Then we give a general scheme of designing emotional facial expressions, and identify the stages where a human is involved, either as a real person with some specific role, or as a VH displaying facial expressions. We discuss how the display and the emotional meaning of facial (...) expressions may be measured in objective ways, and how the culture of displayers and the judges may influence the process of analyzing human facial expressions and evaluating synthesized ones. We review psychological experiments on cross-cultural perception of emotional facial expressions. By identifying the culturally critical issues of data collection and interpretation with both real and VHs, we aim at providing a methodological reference and inspiration for further research. (shrink)

A Grammar of the Bedouin Dialects of Central and Southern Sinai. By Rudolf E. de Jong. Handbook of Oriental Studies, 1, vol. 101. Leiden: Brill, 2011. Pp. xx + 440, illus. $212.

In tone languages, some case studies showed that the word-level tonal representation was closely related to the underlying metrical pattern. Based on different tonal patterns in prosodic units, the metrical structures could generally be divided into the left- and right-dominant types in Chinese dialects. Yet the cross-dialectal phonetic realizations (e.g., duration and pitch) between or within these two metrical structures were still unrevealed. The current study investigated the duration and pitch realizations of disyllabic prosodic words in Changsha and Chengdu dialects (...) (the left-dominant structure), and in Fuzhou and Xiamen dialects (the right-dominant structure). Results showed that not all the duration patterns across four Chinese dialects were sensitive to different metrical structures, indicating that the duration might not be the universal cue for metrical prominence in Chinese dialects. In terms of pitch realization across all the four Chinese dialects, level tones (sometimes falling tones) generally appeared in the metrically weak unit, while underlying pitch forms appeared in the metrically strong unit. Compared with duration, pitch might be more robust for prosodic realizations of metrical structures in Chinese dialects. Furthermore, there was an interaction between duration and pitch patterns in Chinese dialects, which could shed new light on the phenomenon of “metrical tone sandhi”. Meanwhile, this study also provides some references for the judgment of the metrical stress and prosodic realizations in other Chinese dialects. (shrink)

No single theory so far proposed gives a wholly satisfactory account of the origin and maintenance of bird-song dialects. This failure is the consequence of a weak comparative literature that precludes careful comparisons among species or studies, and of the complexity of the issues involved. Complexity arises because dialects seem to bear upon a wide range of features in the life history of bird species. We give an account of the principal issues in bird-song dialects: evolution of vocal learning, experimental (...) findings on song ontogeny, dialect descriptions, female and male reactions to differences in dialect, and population genetics and dispersal.We present a synthetic theory of the origin and maintenance of song dialects, one that accommodates most of the different systems reported in the literature. The few data available suggest that large, regional dialect populations are genetically differentiated; this pattern is correlated with reduced dispersal between dialects, assortative mating by females, and male-male exclusion. At the same time, “subdialects” may be formed within regional dialects. Subdialect clusters are usually small and may represent vocal mimicry among a few adjacent territorial males. The relative importance of genetic and social adaptation may contribute to the emergence of subdialects; their distinctiveness may be correlated with the degree of polygyny, for example. Thus, subdialect formation is linked to one theory of the evolution of repertoire size, but data are too fragmentary to examine this idea critically. (shrink)

To the instances of non-syllabic ε after -ιλ- or -υλ- which were given in Class. Quart. XVII. 196 , two more may be added: Σιλεωνας, Kaibel, Epigrammata Graeca 783 , occurs in a trochaic line, and is scanned Cup – Cup –. Kaibel calls it a ‘nomen suspectum’; but in the re-edition in Anc. Gr.Inscr.in the British Museum, No. 796, the reading is defended by a comparison with Σιλνιος in C.I.G. 1577. 3 = I.G. 7. 2429.

We develop a formal semantic analysis of the alarm calls used by Campbell’s monkeys in the Tai forest and on Tiwai island —two sites that differ in the main predators that the monkeys are exposed to. Building on data discussed in Ouattara et al. :e7808, 2009a; PNAS 106: 22026–22031, 2009b and Arnold et al., we argue that on both sites alarm calls include the roots krak and hok, which can optionally be affixed with -oo, a kind of attenuating suffix; in (...) addition, sentences can start with boom boom, which indicates that the context is not one of predation. In line with Arnold et al., we show that the meaning of the roots is not quite the same in Tai and on Tiwai: krak often functions as a leopard alarm call in Tai, but as a general alarm call on Tiwai. We develop models based on a compositional semantics in which concatenation is interpreted as conjunction, roots have lexical meanings, -oo is an attenuating suffix, and an all-purpose alarm parameter is raised with each individual call. The first model accounts for the difference between Tai and Tiwai by way of different lexical entries for krak. The second model gives the same underspecified entry to krak in both locations, but it makes use of a competition mechanism akin to scalar implicatures. In Tai, strengthening yields a meaning equivalent to non-aerial dangerous predator and turns out to single out leopards. On Tiwai, strengthening yields a nearly contradictory meaning due to the absence of ground predators, and only the unstrengthened meaning is used. (shrink)

El propósito de este estudio no es defender ni negar la sonorización de las /-t-/ y /-k-/ latinas en los dialectos mozárabes, sino proponer que, siendo difícil fijar el valor fonológico de las grafías ṭā’ y qāf en los varios registros del árabe andalusí, su uso no prueba la sonorización de dichas consonantes ni su conservación como sordas.