Reconocimiento de acto de diálogo secuencial para debates argumentativos árabes

Dialogue act recognition remains a primordial task that helps user to automatically identify participants’ intentions. In this paper, we propose a sequential approach consisting of segmentation followed by annotation process to identify dialogue acts within Arabic politic debates. To perform DA recognition, we used the CARD corpus labeled using the SADA annotation schema. Segmentation and annotation tasks were then carried out using Conditional Random Fields probabilistic models as they prove high performance in segmenting and labeling sequential data. Learning results are notably important for the segmentation task (F-score=97.9%) and relatively reliable within the annotation process (f-score=63.4%) given the complexity of identifying argumentative tags and the presence of disfluencies in spoken conversations.El reconocimiento del acto de diálogo sigue siendo una tarea primordial que ayuda al usuario a identificar automáticamente las intenciones de los participantes. En este documento, proponemos un enfoque secuencial que consiste en la segmentación seguida de un proceso de anotación para identificar actos de diálogo dentro de los debates políticos árabes. Para realizar el reconocimiento DA, utilizamos el corpus CARD etiquetado utilizando el esquema de anotación SADA. Las tareas de segmentación y anotación se llevaron a cabo utilizando modelos probabilísticos de Campos aleatorios condicionales, ya que demuestran un alto rendimiento en la segmentación y el etiquetado de datos secuenciales. Los resultados de aprendizaje son especialmente importantes para la tarea de segmentación (F-score = 97.9%) y relativamente confiables dentro del proceso de anotación (f-score = 63.4%) dada la complejidad de identificar etiquetas argumentativas y la presencia de disfluencias en las conversaciones habladas

Analysing group agency through narrative interviews: Cooperation and crisis in coexistence education organizations in Israel

The basis of cooperation is recognition and a common agenda. Cooperation is part of the agency of social groups in a professional setting. Working together for a common goal implies a shared concept. Especially in organizations with an educational or social agenda, agency refers to shared knowledge and empowerment.This article focuses on the reflection of societal power structures and the impact of the minority-majority relationship in the analysis of agency. Social conflicts not only play a role in political commitment in general, but are also a constant source of difficulties in a work context in which colleagues are comrades and friends. By analysing narrative interviews with actors in Coexistence Education in Israel this article discusses the premises of group agency

Teaching academic writing to Iraqi undergraduate students: An investigation into the effectiveness of a genre-process approach

A modified integrated process-genre approach (MIM) was implemented with EFL undergraduate students in Iraq. Some students subject to the MIM were better able to construct structurally complex and reasonably-grounded arguments and to employ a wider range of informal reasoning patterns group.Combining the merits of both the process and genre approaches has the potential to develop a more coherent model of writing by taking into account cognitive and social demands

Deliberative Democracy and Complex Diversity. From Discourse Ethics to the Theory of Argumentation.

362 p.Can democracy accommodate contemporary diverse and complex societies? Is deliberation an appropiate means for these ends? Even in the face of violent conflict? What is the role of citizens? The central objetive of this thesis is to critically analyse the relationsship between complex diversity (Tully 2008, Kraus 2012) and deliberatibe democracy /Habermas 1996) from a systemic perspective (Masnbrige and Parkinson 2012). Thinking identity as complex diversity detaches identity from dichotomous categorisations either as public of private, civic or ethnic and, moral or political

EXPLORING CRITICAL READING EXPERIENCE IN ENGLISH OF EMIRATI 11th GRADE STUDENTS

This study aimed at exploring the critical reading experiences of Emirati 11th-grade students in public high schools. A sequential explanatory mixed-method design was used to answer the five research questions posed in this study. In this study, data were collected in two consecutive phases and used different instruments including a questionnaire, classroom observation, and a semi-structured interview. In the first phase of the study, a total number of 11th-grade students (n=645) participated by filling a questionnaire about their critical reading experiences. The second phase of the study featured an in-depth investigation of the teachers’ and students’ views about critical reading practices by means of interviews (n=10) and classroom observations. The results of this study revealed that there is a consistency among students’ self-reporting, students’ views, and classroom observations. The two phases of the study provided evidence that the students use basic critical reading skills and they do not use higher-order critical reading skills. The results also showed that English teachers used different reading strategies and activities, the majority of these practices engaged lower-order thinking skills that only required knowledge recognition and identification of factual details. Both teachers and students’ views corroborated that the English curriculum used is not flexible and lacks a fundamental English literature component and the curriculum assessment is based on teaching to the test. Finally, several challenges that hinder the use of critical reading were expressed by teachers and students alike. These included lack of time, lack of resources, low language competency, low motivation level, lack of curriculum choices, and the teachers were constrained by the curriculum. The study recommends a general reconceptualization of English curriculum contents, curriculum assessment, and teaching strategies with regard to critical reading

Early English Debate Poetry as Conflict Talk

This study examines conflict-related features in a corpus of English debate poems from ca. 1250–1650. The dataset includes 30 central texts of varying lengths from the medieval and early modern periods. The theoretical framework is that of historical discourse linguistics and dialogue analysis, with input from studies of present-day speech-in-interaction. Earlier research on this genre has been largely literary, and the present work provides new insights both into the types of moves found within the conflict sequence and the actual linguistic building blocks used to represent conflict interaction. The approach is mainly based on close reading, but qualitative methods are complemented with a quantitative analysis of frequently appearing linguistic items such as modals and negatives. The study begins with a survey of the earlier tradition of academic and literary debates, and a review of how conflict talk has been conceptualized in previous research. Most of the conflictive moves established in earlier research on modern English were also found in debate poetry. This study identified two additional moves: predictions and formulations used for aggressive purposes. In terms of self-oriented moves, self-praise seems to be common in my material, and the methods of backing a claim are quite varied. The beginning phase of the conflict sequence was found to have a localised asymmetry which replicates that found in present-day conflicts: the attacking party has an initial advantage. As for the ending sequences, it emerged that a successful submission apparently required a full admission of error and a commitment not to repeat it. Other ways of negotiating a termination of conflict included mentioning time constraints and requesting a ruling from an arbitrator. The quantitative analysis also shows strategies that would tend to highlight the conflict element: the opponent’s statements are made to seem more extreme, and the speaker’s own arguments are represented as the only available option. The analysis also foregrounds the notion of evidentiality and the centrality of negotiating what constitutes acceptable proof. This is the first study to explore both medieval and early modern debate poetry in detail. The findings support those of earlier literary criticism, while shedding light on the linguistic aspect and thereby enhancing our understanding of how conflict was viewed and represented at the time. Some findings have relevance for today: the conflictive use of formulations and predictions may well be present also in everyday conflicts, even if it is less salient there.Tutkimukseni käsittelee konfliktipuheeseen liittyviä piirteitä keskiajan ja uuden ajan alun englantilaisessa kiistarunoudessa. Aineisto käsittää 30 keskeistä tekstiä.Teoreettiselta viitekehykseltään työ kuuluu historiallisen diskurssilingvistiikan ja dialogianalyysin alaan; vaikutteita on otettu myös vuorovaikutuslingvistiikan tutkimuksesta. Kiistarunouteen perehtynyt aiempi tutkimus on ollut pitkälti kirjallisuustieteellistä, ja näin ollen työni tarjoaa uusia oivalluksia niin konfliktin aikana tehtävistä toiminnoista eli ’siirroista’ kuin myös yhteenoton kirjallisessa esittämisessä hyödynnettävistä konkreettisista kielellisistä ilmiöistä. Lähestymistapani perustuu pääasiassa lähilukuun, mutta täydennän laadullisia menetelmiä usein esiintyvien kielellisten piirteiden kvantitatiivisella analyysilla (esim. modaaliverbit ja kieltosanat). Kiistarunoudessa esiintyvät lähes kaikki nykykieleen liittyvässä aiemmassa tutkimuksessa tunnistetut siirrot. Tutkimukseni lisää näihin kaksi uutta siirtoa: ennusteet ja aggressiivisiin tarkoituksiin käytettävät formulaatiot. Myös omakehu on aineistossani varsin yleistä, ja väitteitä voidaan tukea hyvin monenlaisiin auktoriteetteihin viitaten. Kiistarunon alussa hyökkäävä osapuoli on etulyöntiasemassa, eli syntyy paikallinen voimaepätasapaino, mikä on yleistä myös nykypäivän konflikteissa. Konflikti voidaan päättää joko antautumalla, mikä vaatii oman erehdyksen tunnustamista ja lupauksen olla toistamatta samaa virhettä jatkossa, tai pyytämällä etukäteen sovittua tuomaria julistamaan tulos. Keskustelu voidaan päättää myös käytettävissä olevan ajan rajallisuuteen viittaamalla. Myös määrällisessä analyysissa korostuivat konfliktia kärjistävät strategiat. Vastustajan argumentteja liioitellaan, ja puhujan omat näkemykset esitetään ainoina mahdollisina, muut vaihtoehdot häivyttäen. Evidentiaalisuus ja keskustelijoiden neuvottelut siitä, mitkä todistelut voidaan katsoa hyväksyttäviksi, nousevat tässä keskeiseen asemaan. Löydökseni tukevat aiempia kirjallisuustieteen tuloksia, mutta nostavat esille kielellisiä ilmiöitä ja lisäävät näin ymmärrystämme konfliktiin liittyneistä käsityksistä ja sen kirjallisesta esittämisestä. Joillakin tuloksilla on merkitystä myös nykyään: aggressiivisia formulaatioita ja ennusteita esiintyy todennäköisesti myös nykyajan ristiriitatilanteissa

Discourse shifts in the translation of politically sensitive texts with relevance to English/Arabic media texts

Abstract unavailable please refer to PD

Studies in Rabbinic Hebrew

"This volume presents a collection of articles centring on the language of the Mishnah and the Talmud – the most important Jewish texts (after the Bible), which were compiled in Palestine and Babylonia in the latter centuries of Late Antiquity. Despite the fact that Rabbinic Hebrew has been the subject of growing academic interest across the past century, very little scholarship has been written on it in English. Studies in Rabbinic Hebrew addresses this lacuna, with eight lucid but technically rigorous articles written in English by a range of experienced scholars, focusing on various aspects of Rabbinic Hebrew: its phonology, morphology, syntax, pragmatics and lexicon. This volume is essential reading for students and scholars of Rabbinic studies alike, and constitutes the second in a new series, Studies in Semitic Languages and Cultures, in collaboration with the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge.