naklada - Zagreb, Croatia USE OF THE COMMUNICATION CHECKLIST - SELF REPORT (CC-SR) IN SCHIZOPHRENIA: LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENTS CORRELATE WITH POOR PREMORBID SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT

Background: The present study reports preliminary results from the multicentre project on the approbation of the Russian language version of the “The Communication Checklist-Self Report” (RL-CC-SR) and its first use in schizophrenia (SZ), aiming to evaluate the contribution of language disturbances in the pathogenesis of this heterogeneous disorder. Subjects and methods: The study evaluated patients’ clinical state with the Diagnostic Interview for Psychoses (DIP), and assessed language and communication disturbances (LCD) with the RL-CC-SR in all participants (213 healthy controls (HC), 83 SZ patients, 31 SZ first-degree relatives). Data from the current sample of SZ (n=50), and HC (n=213) was analysed to calculate the relationships between LCD, social and clinical variables using descriptive statistics methods, T-test and Pearson’s correlations (SPSS-26, 2019). Results: The quotient scores (<6) and raw scores on all three CC-SR subscales demonstrated prominent LCD in SZ: (i) language structure (LS) (SZ:11.92±8.01, HC:7.54±5.91; <0.001), (ii) pragmatic skills (PS) (SZ:11.30±10.07, HC:8.71±7.39; =0.040), (iii) social engagement (SE) (SZ:31.94±11.76, HC:19.42±10.35; <0.001). In SZ, Pearson correlations of LS scores were significant for the DIP-items Odd Speech (p=0.033), and Social Engagement - Blunted Affect (p=0.042). PS was related to early disease onset (=0.027), poor premorbid work adjustment (p=0.003), along with LS (p=0.005), and was also linked to poor premorbid social adjustment (p=0.005). Conclusions: SZ patients are aware of their LCD at all levels of language structure, pragmatics, and nonverbal communication, but are unable to compensate. Disturbances of LS and PS in SZ patients relate to their poor social adjustment and functioning, and may prove to be associated with the primary negative symptoms domain of the disorder and its generally poor outcome

Assessing Language Vitality and Endangerment of Minority Communities in Northeastern Thailand: A Necessity for Visualizing Dynamic Language Shift

Despite the common image that Thailand is a very homogeneous society the truth is that Thailand is a multiethnic and multilingual country where approximately 70 languages are spoken. Over 90% of these languages belong to the Tai-Kadai family. This study focuses on two non-Tai ethnolinguistic minorities, Kuay and Bruu, in the northeastern region of Thailand (Isan), where Lao Isan, a Tai language, is predominant. Kuay and Bruu are Austroasiatic languages. This presentation discusses the results of a survey conducted from 2015 to 2016 in a Kuay (Ta Klang: TK) and a Bruu community (Woen Buek: WB). The foci of the survey were the language attitudes and linguistic practices of these communities. Approximately 150 participants were surveyed, and 25 participants were interviewed in each community. A preliminary analysis of the survey results reveal that WB is undergoing language shift (LS) (Author, 2016a), while TK seems to be maintaining Kuay (Author, 2016b). This paper will detail the features and factors at play in these communities that lead to one shifting away from its traditional language and the other to maintain it, and will propose some considerations regarding the assessment of ethnolinguistic vitality. The comparison of language choice across generations illustrates that WB’s LS has rapidly spread in the community over the last two to three decades. Bruu in WB is partly equivalent to “6b threatened” in EGIDS (Simons and Lewis, 2010). However, the situation is more serious and dynamic than EGIDS’ description: non-Bruu speakers are already the child-bearing generation; Bruu speakers are already a minority among the younger age group; and this group’s use of Bruu is limited. On the other hand, Kuay seems safe in TK, as most participants can speak, or understand, Kuay. Even non-Kuay community members speak Kuay for better communication within community members. At the same time, there are signs of LS in the community. Nevertheless, most community members are confident in Kuay’s ethnolinguistic vitality. The results of these surveys suggest that once LS begins, it spreads very rapidly in a community. It also seems that most people seem unaware of the LS in its early stage. To more precisely grasp the LS/LM situation, a scale that visualizes the speed of LS might be useful for linguists and community members in order to be able to prioritize communities with urgent maintenance needs and for community members to recognize the endangerment of their own language as early as possible. References Lewis, M Paul, & Simons, Gary F. (2010). Assessing Endangerment: Expanding Fishman's GIDS. Revue roumaine de linguistique, 55(2), 103-120. Author. (2016a, July). Language Attitude and Language Choice of a Bruu Community in Thailand-Laos border area – The Situation 5 years after a Language and Culture Revitalization Project. Paper presented at the Cambridge Postgraduate Workshop on Endangered Languages and Cultures, Cambridge, the United Kingdom. Author. (2016b, July). The Language Shift and the Status of Lao in a Kuay Community in Northwestern Surin, Thailand. Paper presented at The Fifth International Conference on Lao Studies, Bangkok, Thailand

Impression management strategies in the Letter to Shareholders: empirical evidence from Italian listed firms

The importance of the Letter to Shareholders (LS) as a form of corporate communication is well documented in the previous literature. However, existent contributions also suggest that LS are used opportunistically by firms as locus of Impression Management (IM) strategy, possibly because of their voluntary and unregulated nature. The aim of this study is to assess whatever Italian firms use LS to convey a manipulated view of firms\u2019 behaviour. In particular, the paper verifies if unprofitable firms adopt a biased language in the LS manipulating the textual characteristics of these letters. A manual content analysis and a multivariate statistical analysis are run analysing the disclosure offered in all the LS made available by Italian listed firms referring to year 2013. The key results show that firms tend to use biased language to obfuscate their weak achievements, thus demonstrating that firms adopt IM in their LS. The evidence has relevant implications as we show that LS cannot be considered informative but rather than as a communication strategy to advance corporate image

Semantic-Preserving Linguistic Steganography by Pivot Translation and Semantic-Aware Bins Coding

Linguistic steganography (LS) aims to embed secret information into a highly encoded text for covert communication. It can be roughly divided to two main categories, i.e., modification based LS (MLS) and generation based LS (GLS). Unlike MLS that hides secret data by slightly modifying a given text without impairing the meaning of the text, GLS uses a trained language model to directly generate a text carrying secret data. A common disadvantage for MLS methods is that the embedding payload is very low, whose return is well preserving the semantic quality of the text. In contrast, GLS allows the data hider to embed a high payload, which has to pay the high price of uncontrollable semantics. In this paper, we propose a novel LS method to modify a given text by pivoting it between two different languages and embed secret data by applying a GLS-like information encoding strategy. Our purpose is to alter the expression of the given text, enabling a high payload to be embedded while keeping the semantic information unchanged. Experimental results have shown that the proposed work not only achieves a high embedding payload, but also shows superior performance in maintaining the semantic consistency and resisting linguistic steganalysis

Examining the Language Learning Potential of a Task-Based Approach to Synchronous Computer-Meditated communication

This study investigates the influence of two task implementation features, the level of task structure and the use of language support, on learner language production during task-based text synchronous computer-mediated communication (text-SCMC) interactions. The study draws on two theoretical sets of claims concerning the process of second language acquisition (SLA). The first, broadly described as cognitive accounts of language learning, the Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson, 2001b, 2003b, 2005) and the Trade-off Hypothesis (Skehan, 1998, 2009), has generated a large body of research on the role of implementation features (a means of varying task complexity) in influencing learner language production. The second, the Interactionist Approach (Gass & Mackey, 2006) has also claimed the facilitative role of interaction in promoting second language production. Most of the studies in both these areas were conducted in face-to-face settings (e.g. Gilabert, 2007b; Michel, Kuiken & Vedder, 2007; Robinson, 2007b; Tavakoli & Foster, 2008; Tavakoli & Skehan, 2005). Because SCMC is growing more pervasive in academic and professional communication, it is timely for empirical research into the effect of task complexity on interaction and language production to be conducted in this setting (Lee, 2008; Smith, 2008). It is this gap that the current study aims to address. The participants were 96 engineering learners at a technical university in Malaysia in an English for Professional Communication course. Using a 2x2 experimental design, the learners were placed in one of four experimental groups defined by high or low task structure (+TS or -TS), and with or without language support (+LS or -LS). Each group was subdivided into teams of four. In each team, the students engaged in a 45-minute chat session performing a simulation of a decision-making task on an engineering problem. The chat exchanges were captured and then analyzed to determine the role of these task implementation features on the occurrence of focus on form sequences and on the accuracy, complexity, and quantity of language produced during the tasks. Results showed that the two task implementation features (+/-TS and +/-LS) influenced the occurrence of language-related episodes (LREs), accuracy, complexity and quantity of output. The findings on the effects of task structure (TS) revealed that the learners engaged in more LREs and their output was more accurate when task performance was highly structured (+TS). However, task structure did not have a significant effect on the structural and lexical complexity of the output nor on the amount of language produced and equality of participation. The findings on the effects of language support (LS) demonstrated that the participants engaged in more LREs and their language use was more accurate when performing the task with language support (+LS) than without it (-LS). In contrast, they produced more complex language when performing the task without language support (-LS). Without language support (-LS), the learners were also found to produce fewer turns but with more words per turn. The finding for equality of participation was non-significant which suggests that participation was not affected by language support. To summarize, the current study lends qualified empirical support to the Interactionist Approach (Gass & Mackey, 2006) and the trade-off effects proposed by Skehan (1998, 2009) in that cognitively simple tasks promoted more accurate, but less complex production than cognitively complex tasks as they apply to taskbased interactions in a text-SCMC context. Additionally, the finding demonstrates partial support for the Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson, 2001b; 2003b, 2005) in that increasing task complexity along the resource-dispersing dimension decreased the accuracy of language production. The visual salience of language in a text-SCMC setting may be an important explanatory factor in accounting for this finding. The study, therefore, provides evidence that the nature of text-SCMC may be facilitative to L2 learning, particularly as a medium for learning of form during communicative practice

Supramodal sentence processing in the human brain: fMRI evidence for the influence of syntactic complexity in more than 200 participants

This study investigated two questions. One is: To what degree is sentence processing beyond single words independent of the input modality (speech vs. reading)? The second question is: Which parts of the network recruited by both modalities is sensitive to syntactic complexity? These questions were investigated by having more than 200 participants read or listen to well-formed sentences or series of unconnected words. A largely left-hemisphere frontotemporoparietal network was found to be supramodal in nature, i.e., independent of input modality. In addition, the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (LpMTG) were most clearly associated with left-branching complexity. The left anterior temporal lobe (LaTL) showed the greatest sensitivity to sentences that differed in right-branching complexity. Moreover, activity in LIFG and LpMTG increased from sentence onset to end, in parallel with an increase of the left-branching complexity. While LIFG, bilateral anterior temporal lobe, posterior MTG, and left inferior parietal lobe (LIPL) all contribute to the supramodal unification processes, the results suggest that these regions differ in their respective contributions to syntactic complexity related processing. The consequences of these findings for neurobiological models of language processing are discussed

On the Expressiveness of Joining

The expressiveness of communication primitives has been explored in a common framework based on the pi-calculus by considering four features: synchronism (asynchronous vs synchronous), arity (monadic vs polyadic data), communication medium (shared dataspaces vs channel-based), and pattern-matching (binding to a name vs testing name equality vs intensionality). Here another dimension coordination is considered that accounts for the number of processes required for an interaction to occur. Coordination generalises binary languages such as pi-calculus to joining languages that combine inputs such as the Join Calculus and general rendezvous calculus. By means of possibility/impossibility of encodings, this paper shows coordination is unrelated to the other features. That is, joining languages are more expressive than binary languages, and no combination of the other features can encode a joining language into a binary language. Further, joining is not able to encode any of the other features unless they could be encoded otherwise.Comment: In Proceedings ICE 2015, arXiv:1508.04595. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1408.145

On the Expressiveness of Intensional Communication

The expressiveness of communication primitives has been explored in a common framework based on the pi-calculus by considering four features: synchronism (asynchronous vs synchronous), arity (monadic vs polyadic data), communication medium (shared dataspaces vs channel-based), and pattern-matching (binding to a name vs testing name equality). Here pattern-matching is generalised to account for terms with internal structure such as in recent calculi like Spi calculi, Concurrent Pattern Calculus and Psi calculi. This paper explores intensionality upon terms, in particular communication primitives that can match upon both names and structures. By means of possibility/impossibility of encodings, this paper shows that intensionality alone can encode synchronism, arity, communication-medium, and pattern-matching, yet no combination of these without intensionality can encode any intensional language.Comment: In Proceedings EXPRESS/SOS 2014, arXiv:1408.127

Technology-based rehabilitation to improve communication after acquired brain injury

The utilization of technology has allowed for several advances in aphasia rehabilitation for individuals with acquired brain injury. Thirty-one previous studies that provide technology-based language or language and cognitive rehabilitation are examined in terms of the domains addressed, the types of treatments that were provided, details about the methods and the results, including which types of outcomes are reported. From this, we address questions about how different aspects of the delivery of treatment can influence rehabilitation outcomes, such as whether the treatment was standardized or tailored, whether the participants were prescribed homework or not, and whether intensity was varied. Results differed by these aspects of treatment delivery but ultimately the studies demonstrated consistent improvement on various outcome measures. With these aspects of technology-based treatment in mind, the ultimate goal of personalized rehabilitation is discussed.This project was funded by the Coulter Foundation for Translational Research. (Coulter Foundation for Translational Research