Strategies or similarities—what determines mastery of figurative language?

Six experiments examined different determinants of metaphor performance. Special focus was placed on tenor-vehicle similarities and on visual-verbal strategy operations. The results showed that use of specified strategy operations tended to favour verbal operations, whereas previous research demonstrated that unspecified visual strategies improve metaphor comprehension. The deviating observations were interpreted as due to differences in levels of strategy specification. In the new experiments metaphors were shown to be less easily transformed under visual than under verbal processing conditions. The number of detected similarities between tenor and vehicle terms are shown to be only modestly related to metaphor performance. Findings suggested that similarities are more easily found with visually encoded metaphors, whereas an alternative tenor term is easier to find with the metaphor verbally encoded.     

Linking sounds to meanings: Infant statistical learning in a natural language

The processes of infant word segmentation and infant word learning have largely been studied separately. However, the ease with which potential word forms are segmented from fluent speech seems likely to influence subsequent mappings between words and their referents. To explore this process, we tested the link between the statistical coherence of sequences presented in fluent speech and infants’ subsequent use of those sequences as labels for novel objects. Notably, the materials were drawn from a natural language unfamiliar to the infants (Italian). The results of three experiments suggest that there is a close relationship between the statistics of the speech stream and subsequent mapping of labels to referents. Mapping was facilitated when the labels contained high transitional probabilities in the forward and/or backward direction (Experiment 1). When no transitional probability information was available (Experiment 2), or when the internal transitional probabilities of the labels were low in both directions (Experiment 3), infants failed to link the labels to their referents. Word learning appears to be strongly influenced by infants’ prior experience with the distribution of sounds that make up words in natural languages.     

语言,语义,语言表征,心理理论--从语言获得建构理论谈心理理论和语言能力的关系

语言获得建构论认为儿童利用社会和一般的认知技能进行范畴化。通过主动的用法建构获得语言符号系统。通过大量研究分析推断：儿童心理理论的发展是儿童社会认知概念系统发展和语言表征发展的结果。通过概念系统发展和语言表征以及语言功能性发展的分析,有助于理解语言能力和心理理论的关系。     

The Extended Body: The Social Body of Jesus according to Luke1

Abstract : Informed by body phenomenology and contemporary concepts of the social body, this article aims to interpret the particular movements and transformations of Jesus’ body as presented in the Gospel of Luke. From the outset Jesus’ body is inscribed in a Jewish genealogy. Likewise, the Gospel depicts the character of Jesus via the various landscapes he passes through as well as through the social interactions of which he is a part. While Jesus’ body is initially described as being energized by the mobile presence of the Spirit, it increasingly closes in and, at the end, simply disappears. Luke describes Jesus’ ascension and resurrection as radical transformations of Jesus’ body, by which Jesus’ body‐and‐mind (Leib) extends into a social body, at home in God as well as among his followers. This social body also crosses the genetic and cultural boundaries between Jews and Gentiles. Only through this extensiveness can Jesus’ body become accessible worldwide.     

Creating “Maneuvering Room”: A Grounded Theory of Language and Influence in Marriage and Family Therapy

Influence in psychotherapy has been described as a characteristic of the therapist, a characteristic of the therapeutic relationship, and a negotiated process. This study combines grounded theory and task analysis to explore language patterns in facilitating change in family therapy. Thirty-one episodes of therapy were analyzed, resulting in the emergent concept of creating maneuvering room. Therapists introduce uncertainty into clients beliefs about problems then offer new ways of defining problems by speaking from three dimensions: therapist as expert or non-expert, therapist as participant or observer, or family members experiences as similar or different. The findings of this study support a possible common factor in family therapy.     

Nouns and Verbs: A Comparison of Definitional Style

The present investigation is a study of the definitional style of nouns and verbs in typically developing school-age children. A total of 30 children in upper-elementary grades provided verbal definitions for 10 common high-frequency nouns (e.g., apple, boat, baby) and 10 common high-frequency verbs (e.g., climb, sing, throw). All definitions were coded and scored for semantic content (meaning) and grammatical form (syntax). Results revealed no significant difference between noun and verb definitions for content scores. For form, however, noun definition scores were significantly higher than verb definition scores. A supplementary analysis was conducted to explore development of noun and verb definitions in upper-elementary grades. Input factors, word frequency, as well as theory of the organization of the mental lexicon are discussed in relation to definitional skill.     

幽默在语言应激中的防御功能

语言应激是现代人类生活中不可回避的问题,幽默则是一种积极成熟的心理防御机制.对语言应激及其消极影响、幽默在语言应激中的防御功能加以论述,并指出幽默修养在现代生活中重要意义.     

语文教学中的内隐学习

本文作者根据语文教学的目的,语文教学的结果和语文教学的内容特点,认为内隐学习在语文教学中,特别是汉语教学中,可起重要作用。然后．介绍了他们对这个问题进行的阔查和实验研究。实验证实,内隐学习和外显学习的效果没有磬异,或内隐学习的效果优于外显学习。而且,内隐学习具有较好的保持效果。因此,作者提出应充分重视内隐学习在语文教学中的作用。