Doing well by talking good? A topic modelling-assisted discourse study of corporate social responsibility

Using the novel technique of topic modelling, this paper examines thematic patterns and their changes over time in a large corpus of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports produced in the oil sector. Whereas previous research on corporate communications has been small-scale or interested in selected lexical aspects and thematic categories identified ex ante, our approach allows for thematic patterns to emerge from the data. The analysis reveals a number of major trends and topic shifts pointing to changing practices of CSR. Nowadays ‘people’, ‘communities’ and ‘rights’ seem to be given more prominence, whereas ‘environmental protection’ appears to be less relevant. Using more established corpus-based methods, we subsequently explore two top phrases - ‘human rights’ and ‘climate change’ that were identified as representative of the shifting thematic patterns. Our approach strikes a balance between the purely quantitative and qualitative methodologies and offers applied linguists new ways of exploring discourse in large collections of texts.

The spiral structure of the Galaxy revealed by CS sources and evidence for the 4:1 resonance

We present a map of the spiral structure of the Galaxy, as traced by molecular carbon monosulphide (CS) emission associated with IRAS sources which are believed to be compact H II regions. The CS line velocities are used to determine the kinematic distances of the sources in order to investigate their distribution in the galactic plane. This allows us to use 870 objects to trace the arms, a number larger than that of previous studies based on classical H II regions. The distance ambiguity of the kinematic distances, when it exists, is solved by different procedures, including the latitude distribution and an analysis of the longitude-velocity diagram. The study of the spiral structure is complemented with other tracers: open clusters, Cepheids, methanol masers and H II regions. The well-defined spiral arms are seen to be confined inside the corotation radius, as is often the case in spiral galaxies. We identify a square-shaped sub-structure in the CS map with that predicted by stellar orbits at the 4:1 resonance (four epicycle oscillations in one turn around the galactic centre). The sub-structure is found at the expected radius, based on the known pattern rotation speed and epicycle frequency curve. An inner arm presents an end with strong inwards curvature and intense star formation that we tentatively associate with the region where this arm surrounds the extremity of the bar, as seen in many barred galaxies. Finally, a new arm with concave curvature is found in the Sagitta to Cepheus region of the sky. The observed arms are interpreted in terms of perturbations similar to grooves in the gravitational potential of the disc, produced by crowding of stellar orbits.

Alignment-based extraction of multiword expressions

Due to idiosyncrasies in their syntax, semantics or frequency, Multiword Expressions (MWEs) have received special attention from the NLP community, as the methods and techniques developed for the treatment of simplex words are not necessarily suitable for them. This is certainly the case for the automatic acquisition of MWEs from corpora. A lot of effort has been directed to the task of automatically identifying them, with considerable success. In this paper, we propose an approach for the identification of MWEs in a multilingual context, as a by-product of a word alignment process, that not only deals with the identification of possible MWE candidates, but also associates some multiword expressions with semantics. The results obtained indicate the feasibility and low costs in terms of tools and resources demanded by this approach, which could, for example, facilitate and speed up lexicographic work.

An investigation into feature construction to assist word sense disambiguation

Identifying the correct sense of a word in context is crucial for many tasks in natural language processing (machine translation is an example). State-of-the art methods for Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) build models using hand-crafted features that usually capturing shallow linguistic information. Complex background knowledge, such as semantic relationships, are typically either not used, or used in specialised manner, due to the limitations of the feature-based modelling techniques used. On the other hand, empirical results from the use of Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) systems have repeatedly shown that they can use diverse sources of background knowledge when constructing models. In this paper, we investigate whether this ability of ILP systems could be used to improve the predictive accuracy of models for WSD. Specifically, we examine the use of a general-purpose ILP system as a method to construct a set of features using semantic, syntactic and lexical information. This feature-set is then used by a common modelling technique in the field (a support vector machine) to construct a classifier for predicting the sense of a word. In our investigation we examine one-shot and incremental approaches to feature-set construction applied to monolingual and bilingual WSD tasks. The monolingual tasks use 32 verbs and 85 verbs and nouns (in English) from the SENSEVAL-3 and SemEval-2007 benchmarks; while the bilingual WSD task consists of 7 highly ambiguous verbs in translating from English to Portuguese. The results are encouraging: the ILP-assisted models show substantial improvements over those that simply use shallow features. In addition, incremental feature-set construction appears to identify smaller and better sets of features. Taken together, the results suggest that the use of ILP with diverse sources of background knowledge provide a way for making substantial progress in the field of WSD.

From Pettson and Findus to Festus and Mercury...and Back Again: A Comparison of Four Translations of Sven Nordqvist's Picture Books

In order to examine how children's literature might be translated, two different English translations of two Swedish picture books have been analyzed. The original Swedish books are Rävjakten and Pannkakstårtan by Sven Nordqvist. Rävjakten was translated as The Fox Hunt in 1988 and as The Fox Hunt in 2000. Pannkakstårtan was translated as Pancake Pie in 1985 and as The Birthday Cake in 1999. Literary translation in general, specific translation issues for children's literature, and trends in international English style have been considered. Analysis of the four texts has been made, with consideration given to the following areas: changes in illustrations, layout, or format; text changes; lexical choices; and retention, deletion, or modification of names and culturally specific references. The analysis revealed that the following tendencies were true for the later translations: foreignization of the text, word-for-word translation of the text, and a neutral international English variety.

"Selling/Buying"

The article belongs to the field of lexical semantics studies, associated with describing the Russian linguistic world-image. The work focuses on the universal situation of purchase and sale as reflected in the Russian language.

The Concept of ’Selling/Buying’ in the Russian Linguistic Picture of the World : from standard to sub-standard

The thesis belongs to the field of lexical semantics studies, associated with describing the Russian linguistic world-image. The research focuses on the universal situation of purchase and sale as reflected in the Russian lexical standard and sub-standard. The work deals also with subjects related to the sphere of social linguistics: the social stratification of the language, the structure of sub-standard, etc. The thesis is a contribution to the description of the Russian linguistic world-image as well as to the further elaboration of the conceptional analysis method. The results are applicable in teaching Russian as a foreign language, particularly in lexis and Russian culture and mentality studies.

About Collaboration, Interaction, and the Negotiation of Meaning in Synchronous Written Chats in L2-German

Open Access

Effects of a quantum measurement on the electric conductivity : Application to graphene

We generalize the standard linear-response (Kubo) theory to obtain the conductivity of a system that is subject to a quantum measurement of the current. Our approach can be used to specifically elucidate how back-action inherent to quantum measurements affects electronic transport. To illustrate the utility of our general formalism, we calculate the frequency-dependent conductivity of graphene and discuss the effect of measurement-induced decoherence on its value in the dc limit. We are able to resolve an ambiguity related to the parametric dependence of the minimal conductivity.

L'Homme sous le masque : Une étude du personnage principal dans Le Fantôme de l'Opéra

L’objet de la présente étude est le personnage principal dans l’oeuvre Le Fantôme de l’Opéra de Gaston Leroux. Le but de cette analyse littéraire est de mettre en évidence l'ambiguïté et la complexité psychologique et morale de ce personnage.L’analyse est basée sur les théories de Vincent Jouve à propos de la perception du personnage romanesque. Le résultat de l'analyse montre que l'ambiguïté du personnage principal peut être déduite de ce que Jouve appelle le « système de la sympathie » constitué de trois codes : le code narratif, le code affectif et le code culturel.

Quelques réflexions sur les origines de l'argot français du XXe siècle

Le but de ce mémoire est d’étudier les origines étymologiques des mots argotiques qui ont commencé à être utilisés pendant le vingtième siècle. 100 mots ont été choisis et présentés selon leurs origines. Les mots ont été choisis dans le Dictionnaire de l’argot et du français populaire. Les langues d’origine les plus représentées parmi ces 100 mots ont été étudiées pour voir s’il y a une raison probable pour laquelle le français a emprunté des mots à ces langues. Nous avons classé la plupart des mots en champs lexicaux pour examiner s’il y a un certain type de mots qui sont empruntés et si les langues différentes contribuent à des champs lexicaux différents. L’étude a montré que le français a emprunté des mots argotiques aux beaucoup de langues différentes pendant le vingtième siècle. L’anglais et l’arabe ont contribué avec le plus grand nombre de mots. Pour ces deux langues et pour la plupart des autres langues de l’étude, nous discutons des raisons possibles pour lesquelles les mots ont été empruntés.

A Linguistic Analysis of the Written Production of Second Language Learners : The Variation of Article Usage by Adult Chinese Learners of English

This study aims to test Robertson’s lexical transfer principle, which posits that Chinese learners use demonstratives (particularly this) and the numeral one as markers of definiteness and indefiniteness. This is tested by analysing Chinese learners’ written production collected from the Spoken and Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners 2.0 (SWECCL 2.0). The purpose is to understand the variation of article usage by adult Chinese learners of English. More specifically, the study examines to what extent articles, possessive and demonstrative pronouns are used in Chinese learners’ English and how definite and indefinite articles are used by the Chinese learners. Findings suggest that Robertson’s lexical transfer principle was corroborated by the present study. In addition, Chinese learners prefer to use demonstrative determiners, the possessive determiner our, and the numeral one to perform the function of marking definiteness and indefiniteness. In particular, the learners try to use the demonstrative determiners that and this in the anaphoric function instead of the definite article, and the demonstrative determiner those is frequently used in the cataphoric function. What is more, the learners use the numeral one as a marker of indefiniteness, and it is also used as a marker of definiteness in the anaphoric function. Further, the possessive determiner our is used as a marker of definiteness in larger situation uses referring to something unique. To this end, the study is able to show that the definite article is used to perform the function of marking indefiniteness, and in some particular contexts the definite article functions as a Chinese specifier in Chinese learners’ English. Also, the indefinite article is frequently used in quantifier phrases but is rarely used in other functions. There are three main reasons that may explain why Chinese learners use determiners variously. Firstly, the choice of determiners by Chinese learners is influenced by linguistic contexts. Secondly, because of learning strategies, Chinese learners try to ignore the anaphoric function and cataphoric function that they are not yet ready to process in article usage. Thirdly, interlanguage grammar influences the optionality in the use of articles. 

What affects recognition most – wrong wordstress or wrong word accent?

In an attempt to find out which of the two Swedish prosodic contrasts of 1) wordstress pattern and 2) tonal word accent category has the greatest communicative weight, a lexical decision experiment was conducted: in one part word stress pattern was changed from trochaic to iambic, and in the other part trochaic accentII words were changed to accent I.Native Swedish listeners were asked to decide whether the distorted words werereal words or ‘non-words’. A clear tendency is that listeners preferred to give more‘non-word’ responses when the stress pattern was shifted, compared to when wordaccent category was shifted. This could have implications for priority of phonological features when teaching Swedish as a second language.

Children's Vocabulary Development : The role of parental input, vocabulary composition and early communicative skills

The aim of this thesis is to examine the early vocabulary development of a sample of Swedish children in relation to parental input and early communicative skills. Three studies are situated in an overall description of early language development in children. The data analyzed in the thesis was collected within a larger project at Stockholm University (SPRINT- “Effects of enhanced parental input on young children’s vocabulary development and subsequent literacy development” [VR 2008-5094]). Data analysis was based on parental report via SECDI, the Swedish version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories, and audio recordings. One study examined parental verbal interaction characteristics in three groups of children with varying vocabulary size at 18 months. The stability of vocabulary development at 18 and 24 months was investigated in a larger study, with focus on children’s vocabulary composition and grammatical abilities. The third study examined interrelations among early gestures, receptive and productive vocabulary, and grammar measured with M3L, i.e. three longest utterances, from 12 to 30 months. Overall results of the thesis highlight the importance of early language development. Variability in different characteristics in parental input is associated with variability in child vocabulary size. Children with large early vocabularies exhibit the most stability in vocabulary composition and the earliest grammatical development. Children’s vocabulary composition may reflect individual stylistic variation. Use of early gestures is associated differentially with receptive and productive vocabulary. Results of the thesis have implications for parents, child- and healthcare personnel, as well as researchers and educational practitioners. The results underscore the importance of high quality in adult-child interaction, with rich input fine-tuned to children’s developmental levels and age, together with high awareness of early language development.

The relative perceptual weight of two Swedish prosodic contrasts

Abstract. In addition to 9 vowel and 18 consonant phonemes, Swedish has three prosodic phonemic contrasts: word stress, quantity and tonal word accent. There are also examples of distinctive phrase or sentence stress, where a verb can be followed by either an unstressed preposition or a stressed particle. This study focuses on word level and more specifically on word stress and tonal word accent in disyllabic words. When making curriculums for second language learners, teachers are helped by knowing which phonetic or phonological features are more or less crucial for the intelligibility of speech and there are some structural and anecdotal evidence that word stress should play a more important role for intelligibility of Swedish, than the tonal word accent. The Swedish word stress is about prominence contrasts between syllables, mainly signaled by syllable duration, while the tonal word accent is signaled mainly by pitch contour. The word stress contrast, as in armen [´arːmən] ‘the arm’ - armén [ar´meːn] ‘the army’, the first word trochaic and the second iambic, is present in all regional varieties of Swedish, and realized with roughly the same acoustic cues, while the tonal word accent, as in anden [´anːdən] ‘the duck’ - anden [`anːdən] ‘the spirit’ is absent in some dialects (as well as in singing), and also signaled with a variety of tonal patterns depending on region. The present study aims at comparing the respective perceptual weight of the two mentioned contrasts. Two lexical decision tests were carried out where in total 34 native Swedish listeners should decide whether a stimulus was a real word or a non-word. Real words of all mentioned categories were mixed with nonsense words and words that were mispronounced with opposite stress pattern or opposite tonal word accent category. The results show that distorted word stress caused more non-word judgments and more loss, than distorted word accent. Our conclusion is that intelligibility of Swedish is more sensitive to distorted word stress pattern than to distorted tonal word accent pattern. This is in compliance with the structural arguments presented above, and also with our own intuition.