Several types of statistical data stress that English has already become a global language, which results in the term English as Lingua Franca (ELF). For example, the number of the non-native speakers of English (NNSs) has gone way beyond... more
Several types of statistical data stress that English has already become a global language, which results in the term English as Lingua Franca (ELF). For example, the number of the non-native speakers of English (NNSs) has gone way beyond that of native speakers of English (NSs), which means that more opportunities for NNSs to use English will increase with NNSs rather than with NSs. In response to this situation, some have argued about the current status of English: the ownership of English no longer belongs to NSs or new norms of ELF should be established, separated from the norms that regard NSs as models to make equal the power relation between NSs and NNSs. Apparently, this might lead to a scenario in which NNSs can use English with little stress.
However, in fact, it is not the case with the situations that many NNSs have encountered. The sociopolitical power of English between NSs and NNSs still seems to exist rather strongly even in private conversations. NNSs, therefore, still tend to lose their self-esteem in using English, which is viewed as pivotal. In using, especially speaking English, NNSs cannot be assured the situations in which they use it with their self-esteem intact; as a result, they regard themselves as having no value in the speech community that they are involved in.
To address the situation of NNSs with anxiety and stress, we use the term “marginalization.” Relevant research on this term has been carried out, especially in the contexts of the countries where English is a second language (ESL), but little research has been conducted in ELF settings.
Considering this situation, I conducted a questionnaire survey involving the NNSs who stayed in the U.K. for their academic research. The results of the questionnaire survey revealed that their feeling of marginalization might be derived from inner factors rather than external factors such as gender, age, length of study, experience to go to Anglophone countries, the status of English in their home countries, and their English language competence.
To verify the inner factors of the marginalization that NNSs encountered, this study will focus on their discourses, which can underline their thought pattern or identities toward English. Furthermore, to indicate their underlain thought pattern, we will analyse the discourses through the metaphor theory in Cognitive Linguistics, which is based on the idea that our thought is grounded in perception, body movement, and experience and is shown through metaphorical expressions in our discourses.
The aim of our study is to ascertain the marginalized NNSs’ pattern of thought toward English or of metaphorical expressions toward English by analyzing their discourses and to show the way to use and deal with ELF globally.
However, in fact, it is not the case with the situations that many NNSs have encountered. The sociopolitical power of English between NSs and NNSs still seems to exist rather strongly even in private conversations. NNSs, therefore, still tend to lose their self-esteem in using English, which is viewed as pivotal. In using, especially speaking English, NNSs cannot be assured the situations in which they use it with their self-esteem intact; as a result, they regard themselves as having no value in the speech community that they are involved in.
To address the situation of NNSs with anxiety and stress, we use the term “marginalization.” Relevant research on this term has been carried out, especially in the contexts of the countries where English is a second language (ESL), but little research has been conducted in ELF settings.
Considering this situation, I conducted a questionnaire survey involving the NNSs who stayed in the U.K. for their academic research. The results of the questionnaire survey revealed that their feeling of marginalization might be derived from inner factors rather than external factors such as gender, age, length of study, experience to go to Anglophone countries, the status of English in their home countries, and their English language competence.
To verify the inner factors of the marginalization that NNSs encountered, this study will focus on their discourses, which can underline their thought pattern or identities toward English. Furthermore, to indicate their underlain thought pattern, we will analyse the discourses through the metaphor theory in Cognitive Linguistics, which is based on the idea that our thought is grounded in perception, body movement, and experience and is shown through metaphorical expressions in our discourses.
The aim of our study is to ascertain the marginalized NNSs’ pattern of thought toward English or of metaphorical expressions toward English by analyzing their discourses and to show the way to use and deal with ELF globally.
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Research Interests: Psychology and Iconicity
Neologisms have been an object of study in linguistics. However, because of the lack of linguistic resources, it has been difficult for linguists to investigate neologisms. To resolve this situation, we are investigating to make use of a... more
Neologisms have been an object of study in linguistics. However, because of the lack of linguistic resources, it has been difficult for linguists to investigate neologisms. To resolve this situation, we are investigating to make use of a Web archive (e.g. the Internet Archive) for such linguistic research. Because we can find plenty of neologisms on the Web, a Web archive is an unquestionably valuable resource for the linguistics community. This paper reports our attempt to support linguistic analysis of neologisms based on a large Web archive. We also show our initial results on linguistic analysis of neologisms using a time-series Web archive.
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This paper reports two case studies of sound symbolism using the naturalistic name corpora of characters from Disney and Pokémon. Building upon previous studies of sound symbolism, we tested two hypotheses: (1) voiced obstruents, which... more
This paper reports two case studies of sound symbolism using the naturalistic name corpora of characters from Disney and Pokémon. Building upon previous studies of sound symbolism, we tested two hypotheses: (1) voiced obstruents, which are generally associated with negative images, are favored in villainous characters’ names, while (2) bilabial consonants, which are symbolically associated with cuteness, are disfavored in such names. The results show that these tendencies hold in our corpora, suggesting that a concept that is as complex as “villain” can be signaled via sound symbolism. Theoretical implications for cognitive linguistics based on our results are discussed.
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Abstract—This paper investigates the relationship between embodied interaction and symbolic communication. We report about an experiment in which simulated autonomous robotic agents, whose control systems were evolved through an... more
Abstract—This paper investigates the relationship between embodied interaction and symbolic communication. We report about an experiment in which simulated autonomous robotic agents, whose control systems were evolved through an artificial evolutionary process, use abstract communication signals to coordinate their behavior in a context independent way. This use of signals includes some fundamental aspects of sentences in natural languages which are discussed by using the concept of joint attention in relation to the grammatical structure of sentences. Index Terms — artificial life, communication with and without language, sentences, joint attention. I.
Using the artificial tactile systems, we try to bridge the gap between onomatopoeia and embodiment. Especially, the semantic stability (i.e. how much people share the semantics of the expression) and active perception perspectives
A new interactive "wall game" is proposed in which two human players alternatively configure a pattern to communicate. A pattern consists of 3x3 sites, on which a player can place one of three symbols. The two major findings in... more
A new interactive "wall game" is proposed in which two human players alternatively configure a pattern to communicate. A pattern consists of 3x3 sites, on which a player can place one of three symbols. The two major findings in this paper are i) the subjects mainly communicated in two modes. Either the subjects changed the pattern by watching the pattern as it is (dynamical mode) or by having narrative reflection (metaphorical mode). ii) Subjects switched between these two modes. Most of the experiments in evolutionary linguistics are based on “taskoriented communication” and they observe the emergence of lexical items. In contrast, our experiment explores whether “communication without purpose” leads to the emergence of complex rules such as linguistic grammar. We argue that the switching between the two modes observed in our experiment can be seen as a grammatical process in the sense that it is a procedure to take an internal state outside using the media (i.e., patterns in the wall game). Under this hypothesis, the players’ exploration of the media becomes a crucial step in the emergence of language and grammar.
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Sound symbolism refers to the systematic and iconic relationships between sounds and meanings. While the research on this topic is growing rapidly, one issue that is understudied in the literature is whether segments in... more
Sound symbolism refers to the systematic and iconic relationships between sounds and meanings. While the research on this topic is growing rapidly, one issue that is understudied in the literature is whether segments in psycholinguistically salient positions (e.g., word-initial position) exhibit stronger sound–symbolic effects. We report two experiments that, together, show Japanese speakers are more sensitive to the sound–symbolic values of segments in initial syllables, whereas English speakers, rather surprisingly, are more sensitive to the sound–symbolic values of segments in final syllables. This cross-linguistic difference is intriguing, and we believe it opens up opportunities for future experimentation.
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This paper investigates the relationship between embodied interaction and symbolic communication. We refer to works by Iizuka & Ikegami and Marroco & Nolfi as the examples of simulating EC (embodied communicating) agents, and argue their... more
This paper investigates the relationship between embodied interaction and symbolic communication. We refer to works by Iizuka & Ikegami and Marroco & Nolfi as the examples of simulating EC (embodied communicating) agents, and argue their differences in terms of joint attention, a class of communication between cognitive agents. Then we introduce a new simulation to bridge the gap between the two models; with the new model we demonstrate the two pathways to establishing agents’ coordinating behaviors. Based on the simulation results, we explain the typology of sentences (such as ‘declarative’, ‘imperative’ and ‘exclamative’ sentences) from a communicative point of view, which challenges the traditional views of formalizing grammar.
One of the challenges of artificial life is to implement agency in the creature. This paper is going to argue for the concept of agency existing in linguistic communication. It is usual and normal to see that agency exists outside of... more
One of the challenges of artificial life is to implement agency in the creature. This paper is going to argue for the concept of agency existing in linguistic communication. It is usual and normal to see that agency exists outside of language: it is the user of the language who is equipped with agency, and language is not ostensibly related to it. On the other hand, since the invention of the Turing test, it has been an unsolvable question whether agency is a physical property, or something that is attributed from the outside. Here, it is argued that agency emerges in linguistic communication itself. For developing this idea, we have designed a new communication game between two human subjects in order to see how ”agency” is organized in each communication pattern (which is intended to be a proto-language).
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Abstract This paper explores potential uses of publicly created behavioral data for spatial (re)design. The widespread use of mobile devices and access to the Internet has made spontaneous sharing of information about one's life... more
Abstract This paper explores potential uses of publicly created behavioral data for spatial (re)design. The widespread use of mobile devices and access to the Internet has made spontaneous sharing of information about one's life increasingly common. These emerging trends of ...
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A new interactive "wall game" is proposed to study the emergence of rules and symbols in interaction dynamics. In this game, two human players alternately configure a pattern on a board to communicate with each other. Distinct... more
A new interactive "wall game" is proposed to study the emergence of rules and symbols in interaction dynamics. In this game, two human players alternately configure a pattern on a board to communicate with each other. Distinct from related studies, players in this game have no explicit game scores or tasks to optimize. Any dynamics occurring in this game are
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... DA VIDE MAROCCO, STEFANO NOLFI Institute of Cognitive Science and Technologies, CNR, Via San Martinodella Battaglia 44, Rome, 00185, Italy This ... of language has become a target of scientific study (see eg Cangelosi & Hamad... more
... DA VIDE MAROCCO, STEFANO NOLFI Institute of Cognitive Science and Technologies, CNR, Via San Martinodella Battaglia 44, Rome, 00185, Italy This ... of language has become a target of scientific study (see eg Cangelosi & Hamad (2000), Quinn (2001), Kirby (2002), Sugita ...
A new interactive "wall game" is proposed to study the emergence of rules and symbols in interaction dynamics. In this game, two human players alternately configure a pattern on a board to communicate with each other. Distinct... more
A new interactive "wall game" is proposed to study the emergence of rules and symbols in interaction dynamics. In this game, two human players alternately configure a pattern on a board to communicate with each other. Distinct from related studies, players in this game have no explicit game scores or tasks to optimize. Any dynamics occurring in this game are therefore ad-hoc and on-going processes. There were three major findings in this paper. (i) The subjects mainly interacted in two modes: a dynamic mode where players proceed through the game without assigning any meanings to the pattern, and a metaphoric mode, where players process with narrative reflection. (ii) Subjects spontaneously switch between the two modes, but this switching is suppressed when playing alone. (iii) A transition diagram of the board pattern can be used to label the two modes, e.g. linearity of the diagram is correlated with the metaphoric mode. One of the main features of grammar is to display subjects' intentionality in a systematic way. We argue that the switching between the two modes observed in our experiment can be taken as a grammatical aspect that emerged in the process. These modes express the speaker's perspective in the same manner as grammatical elements do in natural language. The switching behavior should be seen as a process that embodies a player's intention using the medium (in this case, the patterns in the wall game), and a player's exploration of the medium is a necessary step before generating a grammar structure.
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Abstract This paper explores potential uses of publicly created behavioral data for spatial (re)design. The widespread use of mobile devices and access to the Internet has made spontaneous sharing of information about one's life... more
Abstract This paper explores potential uses of publicly created behavioral data for spatial (re)design. The widespread use of mobile devices and access to the Internet has made spontaneous sharing of information about one's life increasingly common. These emerging trends of ...