Cross-linguistic trade-offs and causal relationships between cues to grammatical subject and object, and the problem of efficiency-related explanations

Cross-linguistic studies focus on inverse correlations (trade-offs) between linguistic variables that reflect different cues to linguistic meanings. For example, if a language has no case marking, it is likely to rely on word order as a cue for identification of grammatical roles. Such inverse correlations are interpreted as manifestations of language users’ tendency to use language efficiently. The present study argues that this interpretation is problematic. Linguistic variables, such as the presence of case, or flexibility of word order, are aggregate properties, which do not represent the use of linguistic cues in context directly. Still, such variables can be useful for circumscribing the potential role of communicative efficiency in language evolution, if we move from cross-linguistic trade-offs to multivariate causal networks. This idea is illustrated by a case study of linguistic variables related to four types of Subject and Object cues: case marking, rigid word order of Subject and Object, tight semantics and verb-medial order. The variables are obtained from online language corpora in thirty languages, annotated with the Universal Dependencies. The causal model suggests that the relationships between the variables can be explained predominantly by sociolinguistic factors, leaving little space for a potential impact of efficient linguistic behavior

Communicative efficiency and the Principle of No Synonymy: Predictability effects and the variation of want to and wanna

There is ample psycholinguistic evidence that speakers behave efficiently, using shorter and less effortful constructions when the meaning is more predictable, and longer and more effortful ones when it is less predictable. However, the Principle of No Synonymy requires that all formally distinct variants should also be functionally different. The question is how much two related constructions should overlap semantically and pragmatically in order to be used for the purposes of efficient communication. The case study focuses on want to + Infinitive and its reduced variant with wanna, which have different stylistic and sociolinguistic connotations. Bayesian mixed-effects regression modelling based on the spoken part of the British National Corpus reveals a very limited effect of efficiency: predictability increases the chances of the reduced variant only in fast speech. We conclude that efficient use of more and less effortful variants is restricted when two variants are associated with different registers or styles. This paper also pursues a methodological goal regarding missing values in speech corpora. We impute missing data based on the existing values. A comparison of regression models with and without imputed values reveals similar tendencies. This means that imputation is useful for dealing with missing values in corpora

Kansainvälisen sopimuskäytännön olemassaolo

Kansainvälinen kauppa on lisääntynyt globalisaation myötä, minkä vuoksi myös rajat ylittävät sopimukset ovat yleistyneet. Tämä on johtanut siihen, että kansainväliset kaupalliset toimijat käyttävät yhteistä tyyliä laatiessaan sopimuksia. Maailmassa on monia oikeuskulttuureja ja -perinteitä, minkä johdosta oikeudelliset käsitteet ovat sidoksissa erilaisiin olettamuksiin, oikeudellisiin menettelyihin, kieliin, ideoihin sekä sosiaalisiin ja kulttuurisiin konteksteihin. Kulttuureiden ja perinteiden arvoilla ja normeilla on pitkät historialliset siteet. Eri kulttuurit ovat vaikuttaneet kansalliseen laadintatyyliin ja lainsäädäntöön sekä kansainvälisten sopimusten yhteydessä sopimusten tulkintaan. Kun tarkastelemme pelkästään sopimusosapuolten käytäntöä, näyttää siltä, että kansainvälinen sopimuskäytäntö on olemassa, sillä kansainväliset sopimukset laaditaan tapaoikeudellisten juridisten järjestelmien (common law) mukaisesti. Ne laaditaan usein ottamatta huomioon sovellettavaa lakia, koska osapuolet pyrkivät omavaraisiin sopimuksiin, jotka minimoivat kansallisten lakien vaikutukset. On yleistä käyttää boilerplate-ehtoja, luonnostella yksityiskohtaisesti ja pyrkiä ulkopuolisten vaikutusten minimointiin. Yleinen tapa omavaraiseen sopimukseen pyrittäessä on valita välimiesmenettely riidanratkaisumekanismiksi, koska se poistaa asian kansallisesta oikeudenkäyntiprosessista ja tarjoaa joustavuutta. Ongelmana on, että täydellistä sopimusta on lähes mahdoton saavuttaa markkinahäiriöiden ja kustannustehokkuuden vuoksi. Sopimusneuvottelut ovat harvoin tyhjentäviä eikä niissä huomioida kaikkia mahdollisia lopputuloksia, sillä neuvotteluissa keskitytään usein vain muutamiin sopimusehtoihin kustannustehokkuuden takia. Siksi hallintoalueet ovat kehittäneet sääntöjä mahdollisten puutteiden korjaamiseksi. Oletussäännöt, mukautukset ja sopimusten tulkinta täydentävät epätäydellisiä sopimuksia. Kansainvälisen sopimuskäytännön olemassaolon ongelmana ovat kansalliset sopimusoikeudet ja tulkinnat, jotka ovat kehittyneet kansallisissa järjestelmissä. Tämä tarkoittaa sitä, ettei niissä välttämättä oteta huomioon rajat ylittävien sopimusten kansainvälistä luonnetta. Sopimusten tulkinta perustuu tiettyihin oletuksiin, eivätkä oletukset ole samoja kaikkialla maailmassa. Oletukset voivat myös vaikuttaa sopimuspuolten, asianajajien ja välimiesten käyttäytymiseen ja ymmärrykseen sopimuksesta. Kansallisten järjestelmien erilaiset mekanismit oikeudellisten ongelmien ja sosiaalisten tarpeiden ratkaisemiseksi eivät estä kansainvälisen sopimuskäytännön olemassaoloa, jos ratkaisut ovat yhteensopivia. Tällä hetkellä on kuitenkin monia tulkintaeroja, jotka voivat johtaa erilaisiin lopputuloksiin eri oikeusjärjestelmissä, vaikka sopimuslauseke olisikin muotoiltu samalla tavalla. Välimiesmenettelyn käyttäminen ei korjaa tätä eroa, sillä sopimuspuolet valitsevat sovellettavaksi laiksi lähes aina kansallisen lain, välimiesten on sovellettava lakia oikein ja välimiehet ovat saattaneet omaksua tietyn lähestymistavan lakiin ja sen tulkintaan. Kansainväliset oikeuslähteetkään eivät ratkaise tulkintaongelmaa. Ne voivat tarjota neutraalin kielen ja kompromissin oikeusperinteiden välillä, mutta niitä ei ole sidottu kansallisiin järjestelmiin, joten ne voivat ottaa huomioon rajat ylittävien sopimusten kansainvälisen luonteen. Kansainväliset oikeuslähteet eivät kuitenkaan tarjoa riittävän tarkkoja ohjeita eivätkä kokonaista järjestelmää, joka voisi korjata kansallisten oikeusjärjestelmien vaikutuksen. Kansainväliset oikeuslähteet eivät anna riittävän tarkkoja ohjeita sopimusten tulkintaan. Tässä pro gradu -tutkielmassa ei pyritä väittämään, ettei kansainvälinen sopimuskäytäntö voisi syntyä kansallisten oikeusjärjestelmien ulkopuolella. Tarkoituksena on pikemminkin osoittaa, että kun samankaltaisilla sopimuksilla ei ole yhtenäistä vaikutusta, tuloksena on sekoitus kansallisia ja kansainvälisiä käytäntöjä. Kansainvälisen sopimuskäytännön ei voida sanoa olevan olemassa ilman yhtenäistä vaikutusta. Sen vuoksi on tarpeen tutkia sopimuslausekkeiden tulkintaa kansallisissa tuomioistuimissa ja välimiesmenettelyssä ja pohtia, johtavatko samalla tavalla muotoillut lausekkeet ja erilaiset säännöt erilaiseen lopputulokseen sovellettavasta laista riippuen. Kansainvälisten sopimuspuolien tapa laatia tarkkoja ja yksityiskohtaisia sopimuksia ja pyrkiä rajoittamaan sovellettavan lain vaikutusta voi johtua siitä, että eriävä tulkinta on mahdollista, vaikkakin on mahdotonta sulkea sovellettavan lainsäädännön vaikutusta täysin pois. Itsenäisiin sopimuksiin ja vakiosopimuksiin sovelletaan edelleen kansallisia lakeja ja pakottavia sääntöjä, ja niitä tulkitaan oikeusjärjestelmissä ja -perinteissä muodostuneilla tavoilla.With the rise of globalisation, international trade has increased. As a consequence, cross-border contracts have become more frequent which has led international commercial actors to use a common style when drafting contracts. The world has many different legal cultures and traditions, as a result of which legal concepts are tied to different assumptions, presuppositions, legal procedures, languages, ideas and social and cultural contexts. Further, the values and norms of these cultures have long historical ties. These different cultures have influenced national contract drafting style and contract law and, in the context of international contracts, they have influenced contractual interpretation. If we are solely looking at the practice of contracting parties, it does appear that international contract practice exists, as international agreements are drafted in accordance with the common law drafting style. They are often drafted without considering the applicable law which results in the parties aiming for self-sufficient contracts that minimise the effects of national laws. The parties often include boilerplate terms in the contract, draft in a detailed manner, and aim to exclude external influences. A common tool used by international commercial actors is choosing arbitration as the dispute resolution mechanism, as this removes the case from the national litigation procedure and offers flexibility. The problem is that perfect contracts are nearly impossible to achieve due to market failures and cost efficiency. Contractual negotiations are seldom exhaustive and do not consider all possible outcomes, as negotiations often focus only on a few contractual terms. Therefore, jurisdictions have developed rules to correct and address possible imperfections and shortcomings. Default rules, adjustments and contractual interpretation supplement economic life and complement these incomplete contracts. The problem that can be identified to the existence of international contract practice is that contract laws and interpretation have evolved within national contexts. This means that the interpretation does not necessarily take into account the international character of cross-border contracts. The interpretation of contracts is attached to certain assumptions, and these assumptions are not the same throughout the world. The assumptions can also affect the behaviour and understanding of the contracting parties, lawyers and arbitrators. The fact that national systems have different mechanisms for addressing specific legal problems and social needs does not preclude the existence of international contract practice, provided that the solutions adopted are compatible. However, at present there are still many differences in interpretation which has the possibility of leading to different outcomes in different legal systems, even if a contractual clause is worded similarly. Utilising arbitration is not enough to correct this divergence, as the contracting parties almost always choose national law as the applicable law, the arbitrators must still apply law correctly, and the arbitrators might have internalised a jurisdiction’s approach to law and interpretation. Transnational sources of law are also not adequate to overcome the issue of interpretation. Transnational sources of law may provide neutral language and a compromise between legal traditions. They are not tied to specific national systems so they can have regard towards the international character of cross-border contracts. However, they do not provide sufficiently precise guidance or a complete system that could correct the impact of national jurisdictions. These sources cannot be said to provide adequate guidance on the interpretation of contracts. This master’s thesis does not seek to claim that international contract practice cannot emerge outside the confines of national legal systems, but rather it presents that if similarly worded contracts do not have uniform effect, the result is a mixture of national and international practices. Without uniform effect, international contract practice cannot be said to exist. It is therefore necessary to examine the interpretation of contractual clauses in domestic courts and arbitration and consider whether similarly worded clauses and different rules lead to different outcomes depending on the applicable law. The possibility of divergent interpretation can explain why international commercial parties prefer detailed contracts and wish to detach the contract from the governing law. However, in the current framework, it is not possible to completely eliminate the effects of the applicable law. Autonomous and standard contracts continue to be governed by national laws, they are subject to mandatory rules, and they are interpreted with ways established in the different legal systems and traditions

Distinguishing the \u27Vanguard\u27 from the \u27Insipid\u27: Exploring the Valorization of Mainstream Popular Music in Online Indie Music Criticism

This thesis explores recent transformations in the way mainstream popular music is valorized in online indie music publication Pitchfork. Indie music culture has traditionally defined itself in opposition to mainstream popular taste, through social and aesthetic differentiation mechanisms grounded in connoisseurship and DIY ethics. This thesis argues that the increased popularity and commodification of indie music has altered the culture’s exclusionary taste boundaries, selectively welcoming mainstream performers. To explore these changes, I analyze Pitchfork reviews of albums that appear in the top 20 of the Billboard 200 Year-End Chart, 2006-2011. My findings show that Pitchfork critics tend to privilege modernist conceptions of rock authenticity in their evaluation of albums produced by mainstream performers; reviewers\u27 willingness to perceive positively-valued musical innovation and artistic ambition counterbalances the potentially negative effects performers\u27 commercial and economic success might otherwise have had on their evaluation by this resolutely indie publication

Search and Persuasion in Trademark Law

The consumer, we are led to believe, is the measure of all things in trademark law. Trademarks exist only to the extent that consumers perceive them as designations of source. Infringement occurs only to the extent that consumers perceive one trademark as referring to the source of another. The most intellectual of the intellectual properties, trademarks are a property purely of consumers\u27 minds. The simple idealist ontology underlying trademark law is largely responsible for the law\u27s characteristic instability. Since 1992, the Supreme Court has considered - and in some cases, reconsidered - seven trademark cases. The Court\u27s copyright cases garner the media and celebrity attention, but it is the trademark cases that most clearly express the unsteady state, the entre deux temps condition, of current American intellectual property law. There is a reason for this. Trademark law is arguably the most difficult of the intellectual property laws to contemplate, and its outcomes when applied to facts are the most difficult to predict. This is because it requires a form of what John Keats called negative capability, the capability, more specifically, to think through the consumer and see the marketplace only as the consumer sees it. From the beginning, trademark law has sought to resist the negative capability called for by its underlying idealism. It has sought to limit the dependence of the object of the law, the trademark, on the vagaries of the subject of the law, the consumer. In doing so, the law has embraced an ideal type of the subject. Just as copyright doctrine has based itself upon a largely mythical author construct, so trademark doctrine has based itself upon a largely mythical consumer construct. Where the former describes an impossibly romantic producer, however, the latter describes an impossibly utilitarian consumer. Both figures are conceived of as sovereigns, that is to say, as egoists, but where the sovereign author is inspired, even capricious in her egoism, the sovereign consumer is a utility maximizing agent of unbounded rational choice. By means of a mechanical procedure of search, which trademarks are said to facilitate, she satisfies exogenously determined preferences, on which trademarks are said to have no effect. Her psychology is understood to be predictable, administrable, and ultimately ameliorative. The sovereign consumer is the antithesis of and eliminates the need for negative capability

Age and History: Generations and Sociopolitical Change

It is the possibility of change in the human condition that underlies both the practice and the study of politics. History is chronic1ed by deviations from the past. Political philosophies have come into existence, individuals have risen to power, governments have toppled, because of the promise of change or the fear of it. Even a preoccupation with stability, which characterizes many political ideologies, governments, and traditions of research, is driven by the specter of potential change. Politics is the art/science of controlling changes in the human condition. Not surprisingly, therefore, institutions, processes, periods, and moments of real or potential change dominate its study. It is at points of discontinuity, such as the outbreak of war or the peaceful transfer of power among competing elites, that visions of Utopia and Armageddon flick momentarily into our collective mind\u27s eye. Even periodic change that occurs under the constraints of carefully developed rituals, traditions, and institutions contains the possibility of major disjunctures from the past and so also evokes the hopes and fears associated with the unknown. Of course, such controlled change is usually much less traumatic for the political system. Indeed, one of the major functions of political institutions is to cope with the inevitability of change in a way that maximizes its predictability. In the United States, for example, the holding of periodic, staggered elections, the existence of a two-party system, the separation of powers, and so on, all work to channel political change along a predictable, moderate course (Burnham 1970; Ginsberg 1982). It is in this context of continuity and change that the importance of generations to the study of politics is best understood. There is no more fundamental transfer of power, and therefore no more fundamental potential for change, than that which occurs between generations. This is so because, unlike any other type of change, it is inevitable, it is all-inclusive, and it is untested