The Self-Organization of Speech Sounds

The speech code is a vehicle of language: it defines a set of forms used by a community to carry information. Such a code is necessary to support the linguistic interactions that allow humans to communicate. How then may a speech code be formed prior to the existence of linguistic interactions? Moreover, the human speech code is discrete and compositional, shared by all the individuals of a community but different across communities, and phoneme inventories are characterized by statistical regularities. How can a speech code with these properties form? We try to approach these questions in the paper, using the ``methodology of the artificial''. We build a society of artificial agents, and detail a mechanism that shows the formation of a discrete speech code without pre-supposing the existence of linguistic capacities or of coordinated interactions. The mechanism is based on a low-level model of sensory-motor interactions. We show that the integration of certain very simple and non language-specific neural devices leads to the formation of a speech code that has properties similar to the human speech code. This result relies on the self-organizing properties of a generic coupling between perception and production within agents, and on the interactions between agents. The artificial system helps us to develop better intuitions on how speech might have appeared, by showing how self-organization might have helped natural selection to find speech

Sensory characterization of aged white wine by experienced tasters

Mestrado em Engenharia de Viticultura e Enologia / Instituto Superior de Agronomia. Universidade de Lisboa / Faculdade de Ciências. Universidade do PortoThe present work aimed at the sensory analysis of aged dry white wines to understand which factors drive their quality evaluation by experienced tasters. Nine critics, seven oenologists and fourteen oenology students, aged between 22 and 72 years old, composed the tasting panel. The wines included 16 old white wines and two young white wines, one rosé and one red, used as distractors. Individuals were asked to freely describe the wines, evaluate several synthetic descriptors and characterise the sensory profile through a CATA methodology. In addition, participants reported their liking and predicted wine age. In the free description, the three test panels showed a homogeneous characterisation of the wines consistent with their age and colour. According to the taster group, the quality evaluations were differently correlated with synthetic wine parameters. For critics overall quality scores were driven by wine power (r=0.87), persistence (r=0.90) and complexity (r=0.91). Oenologists influenced by the number of flavours (r=0.72), balance (r=0.87), persistence (r=0.88) and complexity (r=0.83). The quality assessment for students could only be related to wine balance (r=0.79). For critics and oenologists liking was closely related with the quality evaluation (r=0.98 and r=0.97, respectively), while students showed a lower correlation (r=0.78). The influence of colour browning on quality evaluation was more evident in critics, followed by oenologists and students. Further, CATA analysis demonstrated that old white wines were globally described as having a "ripe/matured/evolved" aroma and an "austere" mouthfeel elicited by acidity, salinity, dryness and persistence. This consistent old white wine profile appeared to influence quality evaluation. Conversely, the distractor wines tended to be less scored by critics and oenologists given their young sensory profile and lower browning colour. Accordingly, these two cohorts devalued a white wine with ten years old characterised by low absorbance (0,111 at 420nm) and "fresh" flavours. The age prediction showed that most tasters failed to guess the age wines with more than about 15 years old that can be understood as a sign of their high ageing potential. In conclusion, experienced tasters consistently described and recognised the sensory profile of old white wines. However, the inference of overall quality from synthetic descriptors was relatively different, with critics being more sensitive to wine power while oenologists and students were more influenced by wine balanceN/

The Politics of Education in Iraq: The Influence of Territorial Dispute and Ethno-Politics on Schooling in Kirkuk

The Iraqi Disputed Territories, or Disputed Internal Boundaries, consist of 15 districts stretching across four northern governorates from the Syrian to Iranian borders. The oil-rich Iraqi governorate of Kirkuk lies at the heart of this dispute and reflects the country’s ethnic and religious diversity. Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and Assyrians all claim ancient settlement patterns within the governorate. The symbolic importance of Kirkuk as a homeland to both the Kurds and the Turkmen conflicts directly with its strategic importance to Baghdad. While the two linguistically distinct centers of governance vie for control, interethnic communal tensions are rising and questions of identity increasingly overshadow day-to-day life. The existing research on Kirkuk focuses heavily on governance outcomes and possible administrative solutions, but little has been written about the impact of heightened identity politics on the everyday lives of citizens. This paper explores the influence of these conflicts and contests on education in the city of Kirkuk

Developmental Phenomenology: Epistemic Grounding, Infant Imitation, and Pairing

The present dissertation is comprised of three chapters. While the first chapter confines itself to Husserlian phenomenology, the other two pull together phenomenology and cognitive science, especially developmental psychology. Each chapter is an autonomous paper. However, the second and the third chapters are clearly connected. The claim defended in the second chapter figures as a premise in the third.In the first chapter, I argue that the phenomenological reduction makes possible a viable solution to the epistemological problem of whether the belief in the world\u27s existence is justified. The chapter includes a relatively long exegetical session aimed at demonstrating that the problem of the epistemic ground for the world\u27s existence constitutes one of Husserl\u27s motivations for the phenomenological reduction. In the second chapter, I propose the association by similarity hypothesis for neonatal imitation. This phenomenon is at the center of heated debates involving psychologists and philosophers. In the third chapter, I claim that infants come to perceive others as minded beings on the basis of an association by similarity between the behavior of others and their own. This claim constitutes a significant application of the theory of pairing, which was endorsed in its core by Husserl and Merleau-Ponty. I examine action perception in infants and I argue that pairing occurs through infant-caregiver interaction

The fallacy of social justice: a theoretical critique of critical language policy

Given the prevalence of Critical language policy in the field of language policy and planning, this dissertation sets out to critically analyse both its foundations and implications through an examination of its grounding in the pursuit of social justice. This critical analysis will draw heavily on perspectives being developed in the newly emerging approach of Postcritical language policy. In an effort to properly account for the practical applications of the resulting theoretical arguments, this dissertation will assess Critical language policy in the context of Estonia which constitutes an ideal case study given the complex linguistic environment that has emerged partly as the result of Soviet occupation. Through the analysis described above, this dissertation sets out to argue that social justice and the approaches taken to pursue it, specifically linguistic human rights and language maintenance and revitalization, are fundamentally flawed, ultimately concluding that these flaws provide substantial grounds on which to question Critical language policy as a whole. It will further establish that not only are there viable alternatives to Critical language policy, but also that a continued reliance on the faulty claims of Critical language policy may have dangerous consequences.http://www.ester.ee/record=b4423441~S1*es

A Mind for Language: How Language Shapes Our Reality

To write of language is an unusual activity, for it is to describe something by, through, and with itself. This thesis not only defends the view advanced by Sapir and Whorf of linguistic relativism, but extends their thesis with an application of Heidegger, and conflates the terms of language and self. Ultimately, I believe this endeavor is one which is not successful, but which also yields significant implications for further thought on the philosophical relevance of linguistic relativism. Section two presents some initial thoughts on language and self; the third section describes the terms of language, whereas the fourth one describes those of the self. A fifth section then deals with the general interactions and observations of the interrelatedness between these terms, with a conclusion which highlights the main insights of the inquiry. (A brief appendix with some remarks on poetry follows this thesis.

Education as an Ethnic Defence Strategy: The Case of the Iraqi Disputed Territories

The oil-rich northern districts of Iraq were long considered a reflection of the country with a diversity of ethnic and religious groups; Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, Assyrians, and Yezidi, living together and portraying Iraq’s demographic makeup. However, the Ba’ath party’s brutal policy of Arabisation in the twentieth century created a false demographic and instigated the escalation of identity politics. Consequently, the region is currently highly contested with the disputed territories consisting of 15 districts stretching across four northern governorates and curving from the Syrian to Iranian borders. The official contest over the regions administration has resulted in a tug-of-war between Baghdad and Erbil that has frequently stalled the Iraqi political system. Subsequently, across the region, minority groups have been pulled into a clash over demographic composition as each disputed districts faces ethnically defined claims. The ethnic basis to territorial claims has amplified the discourse over linguistic presence, cultural representation and minority rights; and the insecure environment, in which sectarian based attacks are frequent, has elevated debates over territorial representation to the height of ethnic survival issues. The existing literature and research on the region focuses heavily on the governance outcomes and little has been written about the impact of heightened identity politics on the everyday lives of citizens. It is in this respect that the thesis examines the evolution of the education system post 2003. Drawing on over 50 interviews with regional education officials and community representatives, the thesis presents the impact of amplified ethno-politics on the reconstruction of education in Iraq. The research provides the first academic exploration into education in the region, exploring the significance of cultural reproduction and the link between demands for ethnically specific education, societal security and the wider political contestation over the territory.ESRC - Conflict in Citie