A language exchange program: sustainability innovation in language and culture engagement

The Language Exchange Program between the UPM and UBCO acts as a model for sustainability innovation in language and culture engagement as the students can interact with native speakers in communication tasks. This interdisciplinary initiative supports the latest methodological principles observed in the Common European Framework for Languages [1], such as autonomous and lifelong learning, self-assessment and peer-assessment as well as the incorporation of new technologies to the learning process

Genes, peoples, and languages

The genetic history of a group of populations is usually analyzed by reconstructing a tree of their origins. Reliability of the reconstruction depends on the validity of the hypothesis that genetic differentiation of the populations is mostly due to population fissions followed by independent evolution. If necessary, adjustment for major population admixtures can be made. Dating the fissions requires comparisons with paleoanthropological and paleontological dates, which are few and uncertain. A method of absolute genetic dating recently introduced uses mutation rates as molecular clocks; it was applied to human evolution using microsatellites, which have a sufficiently high mutation rate. Results are comparable with those of other methods and agree with a recent expansion of modern humans from Africa. An alternative method of analysis, useful when there is adequate geographic coverage of regions, is the geographic study of frequencies of alleles or haplotypes. As in the case of trees, it is necessary to summarize data from many loci for conclusions to be acceptable. Results must be independent from the loci used. Multivariate analyses like principal components or multidimensional scaling reveal a number of hidden patterns and evaluate their relative importance. Most patterns found in the analysis of human living populations are likely to be consequences of demographic expansions, determined by technological developments affecting food availability, transportation, or military power. During such expansions, both genes and languages are spread to potentially vast areas. In principle, this tends to create a correlation between the respective evolutionary trees. The correlation is usually positive and often remarkably high. It can be decreased or hidden by phenomena of language replacement and also of gene replacement, usually partial, due to gene flow.

Taboo Language and Illness Online: The Use of Specific Emoticons and Graphic Signs to Talk about HIV/AIDS in South Africa

South Africa is one of the countries most affected by HIV/AIDS: According to 2014 UNAIDS data 6.8 million South Africans live with HIV/AIDS, which means a 18.9% prevalence rate among adults (15-49 years old). Despite this strong presence of HIV/AIDS in South African society it remains relatively stigmatized and is not openly talked about. The silence about HIV/AIDS maintained in everyday conversations and the superstitions associated with this illness have led to the creation of a taboo language. This study aims at shedding light on how South African users resort to specific emoticons and graphic signs to talk about HIV/AIDS online. For this purpose 368 Facebook status updates and comments concerning HIV/AIDS and its side effects were analysed. All participants, aged 14-48, lived at the moment of data collection in Cape Town, in the Cape Flats area. The online conversations investigated are mainly in English mixed with Afrikaans and/or Xhosa. The emoticons and graphic signs in most cases display a graphic depiction of the physical (and mental) effects of the illness. These linguistic and semiotic practices employed on Facebook provide insight into how Capetonian users, on the one hand, express solidarity and sympathy with people suffering from HIV/AIDS. On the other hand, the emoticons and graphic signs are used to label and position people affected by HIV/AIDS. Thus, in the South African context social network sites have become an important space and means for communicating HIV/AIDS issues.

Guide to spoken-word recordings : foreign-language instruction and literature.

Includes indexes.

Guide to spoken-word recordings : foreign language literature and instruction.

Mode of access: Internet.

Resources for language and area studies; a report on an inventory of the language and area centers supported by the National Defense Education Act of 1958

Bibliographical footnotes.

Destiny and motivation in language;

Mode of access: Internet.

Philological proofs of the original unity and recent origin of the human race. Derived from a comparison of the languages of Asia, Europe, Africa, and America. Being an inquiry how far the differences in the languages of the globe are referrible to causes now in operation.

Appendix, A.-C.: 103, [1] p. at end.

Duality of thought and language; an outline of original research,

Mode of access: Internet.

The folklore, manners, customs, and languages of the South Australian aborigines: gathered from inquiries made by authority of South Australian government.

"Facsimiles of letters written by aborigines educated at the mission schools", listed in Table of contents, and in Index as p. 29 of the Addendum, are not found in this copy; page 28 ends with the word "Finis", followed by printer's address at foot of page.

The art of teaching and studying languages.

Mode of access: Internet.

Etymologicon universale: or, Universal etymological dictionary. On a new plan. In which it is shewn, that consonants are alone to be regarded in discovering the affinities of words, and that the vowels are to be wholly rejected; that languages contain the same fundamental idea; and that they are derived from the earth, and the operations, accidents, and properties belonging to it. /

Not a continuation of the author's "Etymologicon magnum."

Lectures on the science of language : delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in April, May, and June, 1861 [and 1863] /

Mode of access: Internet.

Lectures on the science of language : delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in ... 1861 [and 1863] /

Vol. [1]: From the 2d London ed., rev.