Kinect-ing the Dots: Using Motion-Capture Technology to Distinguish Sign Language Linguistic From Gestural Expressions
Posted inResearch Sign Technology

Kinect-ing the Dots: Using Motion-Capture Technology to Distinguish Sign Language Linguistic From Gestural Expressions

Stamp, R., Cohn, D., Hel-Or, H., & Sandler, W. | Just as vocalization proceeds in a continuous stream in speech, so too do movements of the hands, face, and body in sign languages. Here, we use motion-capture technology to distinguish lexical signs in sign language from other common types of expression in the signing stream. One type of expression is constructed action, the enactment of (aspects of) referents and events by (parts of) the body.
Cross-Cultural Conceptualizations of Love: Cognitive Linguistic Analysis of Metaphors in Poems of Kabir and Rumi
Posted inCulture Hindi Metaphor Persian Religion Research

Cross-Cultural Conceptualizations of Love: Cognitive Linguistic Analysis of Metaphors in Poems of Kabir and Rumi

Researchers: Abhijeet Satsangi, Sanjukta Ghosh | This study explores the conceptual metaphors of love in the selected thirty Hindi poems by 15th-century Indian mystic poet Kabir and thirty poems by 13th-century Persian Sufi mystic poet Rumi. This research involved the thematic analysis with an emphasis on Identifying Conceptual Metaphors of Love in the poems of the two renowned poets.
Language Varieties of Italy: Technology Challenges & Opportunities 
Posted inItalian NLP Research Technology

Language Varieties of Italy: Technology Challenges & Opportunities 

Researcher: Alan Ramponi | Italy is characterized by a one-of-a-kind linguistic diversity landscape in Europe, which implicitly encodes local knowledge, cultural traditions, artistic expressions, and history of its speakers. However, most local languages and dialects in Italy are at risk of disappearing within a few generations. The NLP community has recently begun to engage with endangered languages, including those of Italy.
The social structure of signing communities and lexical variation: A cross-linguistic comparison of three unrelated sign languages
Posted inResearch Sign

The social structure of signing communities and lexical variation: A cross-linguistic comparison of three unrelated sign languages

Claims have been made about the relationship between the degree of lexical variation and the social structure of a sign language community (e.g., population size), but to date there exist no large-scale cross-linguistic comparisons to address these claims. In this study, we present a cross-linguistic analysis of lexical variation in three signing communities: Kata Kolok, Israeli Sign Language (ISL) and British Sign Language (BSL).
Empowering Literacy: AI-Enabled Decodable Story Generator Supported by IMSE Revolutionizes Learning
Posted inCognition English Language learning Literature News Technology

Empowering Literacy: AI-Enabled Decodable Story Generator Supported by IMSE Revolutionizes Learning

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., May 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- IMSE, the leading provider of structured literacy professional development, today announced a partnership with Project Read AI to provide educators with a tool to fight the literacy crisis - a Decodable Story Generator that uses artificial intelligence to create decodable stories that are aligned to IMSE's evidence-based literacy scope and sequence.
Comparative Study of Emotional Metaphor in Persian and English as a Human Conceptual Framework in Cultural Anthropology
Posted inEnglish Metaphor Persian Research

Comparative Study of Emotional Metaphor in Persian and English as a Human Conceptual Framework in Cultural Anthropology

Language is a manifestation of the imaginary system of the mind and the metaphors used in the language reflect our intellectual infrastructure. Under-standing the metaphor and its cultural and sensory status is very useful in rec-ognizing and understanding language and communication. One of the important roles of language is to convey each person’s emotions to other people. Emotions are abstract concepts that can be objectified through metaphors.
Cross-linguistic influence meets diminished input: A comparative study of heritage Russian in contact with Hebrew and English
Posted inEnglish Hebrew Research Russian

Cross-linguistic influence meets diminished input: A comparative study of heritage Russian in contact with Hebrew and English

While it is known that heritage speakers diverge from the homeland baseline, there is still no consensus on the mechanisms triggering this divergence. We investigate the impact of two potential factors shaping adult heritage language (HL) grammars: (1) cross-linguistic influence (CLI), originally proposed for second language acquisition (SLA), and (2) background factors associated with input.
Fighting the Fake: A Forensic Linguistic Analysis to Fake News Detection
Posted inEnglish Forensic linguistics Portuguese Research

Fighting the Fake: A Forensic Linguistic Analysis to Fake News Detection

The article explores the challenges of detecting fake news and highlights the linguistic features used in fake news pieces. Despite technological efforts, detecting fake news remains difficult due to its basis in partisanship and identity politics. The study emphasizes the potential of forensic linguistic analysis in combating fake news and aiding criminal investigations.
Contact between Old Persian and Hebrew? A Rejoinder to A. Wilson-Wright
Posted inHebrew History Persian Religion Research

Contact between Old Persian and Hebrew? A Rejoinder to A. Wilson-Wright

A recent article in Vetus Testamentum by Aren Wilson-Wright reconsiders the Persian influence on Biblical Hebrew. The author challenges existing proposals and expands the dataset for analysis. By blending philology and sociolinguistics, the study reveals a complex, multifaceted linguistic interaction between Old Persian and Hebrew, shedding light on previously unknown aspects of this historical period.