The nativization of pragmatic borrowings in remote language contact situations

This article focuses on the issue of pragmatic borrowing and how it manifests in language contact settings where the language of influence is a nonnative language for the receiving speech community. In this case, the languages under investigation are English and its unidirectional influence on Finnish. The article first establishes the behavior of pragmatic elements in traditional language contact settings, then moves on to problematize the notion within contemporary language contact settings. The article then offers specific examples of pragmatic borrowings from English into Finnish, including pills ('please'), oh my god, and about. The discussion accounts for the social, pragmatic, semantic and grammatical incorporation of these elements into Finnish, demonstrating that the borrowed forms have characteristics which are distinct from both the source language (English) as well as heritage form in the recipient language (Finnish). Included in the discussion of these forms is a proposed trajectory for how such borrowings enter into native discourse, as well as the success vs. failure of pragmatic borrowings in entering mainstream discourse. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Water, Waste, and Race: Designing for Change on the Shelby County Landfill

Historically, landfills have been viewed through an environmental lens as sites for technical remediation, employing scientific or engineering strategies for testing, mitigation and capping. They are more rarely viewed as cultural landscapes, places with histories of habitation and use, or as potential sites for design. This thesis investigation examines the Shelby County Landfill in Memphis, Tennessee from a cultural landscape perspective, opening up a dialog and opportunity to think about this site and other waste sites in a more layered and culturally rich way. This research contributes to discussions within the field of landscape architecture that present waste landscapes as fertile spaces for design. By tracing the site history of the land that is now the Shelby County Landfill from the 1600s to 2020, this history reveals how water, waste, and race have intersected and influenced each other over time to shape not only the site, but the city of Memphis. This research presents the relevant information that future site designers should consider when designing the Shelby County Landfill site and is a case study for what landfills can teach us about history and the systems that shape culture and the environment

Views on “Good English” and “Nordic Exceptionalism” in Finland

In the Nordic countries, widespread proficiency in English is positioned as a positive and even critical component of overall global competitiveness and competence. Indeed, maps illustrating who speaks the “best” English in Europe show a swath across the Nordic countries, and the number of people in the Nordic countries claiming proficiency in English is only a few percentage points below those in places such as the UK and Ireland. At the same time, the Nordic countries are routinely listed as the “happiest,” the most egalitarian, the most classless, least corrupt, and an epicenter for so-called “tender values.” In recent years, there has been a spate of publications highlighting how Nordic exceptionalism carries with it some unfortunate downsides, including the possibility for people to ignore or fail to acknowledge issues such as racism, sexism, and other social inequalities because of the affordance: “But our society is equal.” There is a parallel in the use of English. The entrenched notion that “everyone is good at English” overlooks that certain segments of the population—such as the elderly, immigrants and rural inhabitants—do not have the same level of access to the symbolic capital represented through facility in English. In this sense, the use of English presents social/class-based barriers that the national languages do not. This article offers a critique of the social realities relating to the use of English in the Nordic Countries within the context of the social welfare system and “Nordic exceptionalism,” focusing mostly on Finland. Making use of examples of discourse in newspapers, previous research and language policy documents, the chapter highlights how aspects of the use of English in Finland parallel other potentially hyped yet unequitable social issues.Peer reviewe

Clothes

These are days when nothing can be wasted. Materials are scarce, time is precious, and energy is at a premium. Every member of every family must cooperate if rationing of clothing is to be avoided

The Thanksgiving Table

Why not add that original touch to your Thanksgiving dinner? It is your own you know, and it is your privilege to make it as attractive and original as possible. This holiday has undoubtedly been anticipated for a long time by various relatives or friends so they will be prepared for unusual festivity. Let\u27s make the table gay with the rich colors of fall! So we will call upon the, pumpkins, fruits, nuts, squashes, oak leaves, pine needles and bitter sweet, the spoils of the harvest season, to give color to our Thanksgiving table

Coffee and Danish in Sanpete County, Utah : An exploration of food rituals and language shift

In contemporary U.S. culture, coffee and Danish is a classic combination. In this article, the combination refers not to coffee and Danish pastry, but to coffee and the Danish language. Specifically, the article offers an initial investigation into the perceived relationship between the coffee ritual (still a prominent feature of European Scandinavian life today) and how it relates to another cultural artifact, the Danish language, in the discourse of people of Danish descent in Sanpete County, Utah. Sanpete County is unusual in U.S. settlement history due to the fact that the majority of its immigrant settlers were from Denmark. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which offered the impetus for White Americans and Europeans to settle Utah, recommended that immigrants would give up coffee and their heritage language. This investigation, making use of interview data, indicates that for at least the first generations, these cultural artifacts were not readily abandoned, and that for some they interacted as sustained components of a Danish identity.Peer reviewe

Forecasting Textile Supply

Elizabeth Peterson of the Extension Service surveys the curtailment of wartime clothin

Stemming the Tide of Law Student Depression: What Law Schools Need to Learn from the Science of Positive Psychology

A growing body of literature shows that law students exhibit unique signs of psychological distress, including elevated levels of depression, stress, and anxiety. Law students also report significantly higher incidences of alcohol and drug abuse than their peers at other graduate schools. The article assesses the programs that 75 top law schools currently use to combat these alarming trends and finds that they are primarily reactive and that they do not sufficiently address the source or the scope of the problem. This article explores some of the ways in which positive psychology may be uniquely suited to address this student distress. The scientific literature offers a number of methodologies that law schools could utilize to help insulate students from stress and depression. The article then presents the results of an empirical study in which one of these methods was tested in the law school context. The study showed high rates of depression and stress, similar to the results of earlier studies, and shows a very high correlation between stress and depression. The results also confirm that students who find ways to use their top strengths are less likely to suffer from depression and stress and more likely to report satisfaction with life. Encouraging students to utilize their personal strengths may therefore act as a buffer against psychological distress in law school. The article concludes with suggestions for law schools to incorporate these findings and other well established positive psychology principles into a proactive program to benefit their students

Hitchcock and humor : a study in collaborative authorship

text“Hitchcock and Humor: a Study in Collaborative Authorship” presents three case studies that examine how Hitchcock’s humor, a critical component of his touch, fluctuates and varies in accordance with his collaborators and his creative control. The first collaboration addressed involves Hitchcock’s dealings with producer David O Selznick on both Rebecca (1940) and Spellbound (1945). By tracing each film through its initial treatments to its final screenplay, the each man’s individual contribution comes to light and explains why Rebecca lacks the humor required for the full Hitchcock touch whereas Spellbound does provide comic moments. Under Selznick, Hitchcock first established a working relationship with actor Cary Grant. The two would continue to collaborate as the years went on and made four films together in all: Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955), and North by Northwest (1959). In each subsequent film Hitchcock’s methods of humor mesh more with Grant’s screwball persona culminating in a Hitchcock classic full of funny moments. Along with Hitchcock’s wit and Grant’s physical comedy, North by Northwest owes a debt of gratitude to its screenwriter Ernest Lehman who created the original script simply out of sketches of characters and moments. The third case study examines the humor in Frenzy (1972). While Hitchcock’s recent films had failed to reproduce the Hitchcock touch for an uncharacteristic lack of humor, Frenzy is laced with tongue-in-cheek action. The story was based on Arthur La Bern’s novel Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square (1972) and was adapted to the screen by playwright Anthony Shaffer to create what many call Hitchcock’s return to form. These case studies reveal that the inclusion of humor in Hitchcock’s films comes about when Hitchcock has the freedom away from the pressures of the studio and studio heads to assert his creative control with the collaborators and films of his choosing, preferably collaborators whose aesthetics compliment his own, and preferably films whose genre allows for generous tongue-in-cheek.Radio-Television-Fil