Indonesian is known for having a relatively simple morphological and syntactic structure. This is especially true of local varieties of the language, where contrast between categories found in Standard Indonesian is neutralized. In the Indonesian variety spoken in Riau Province, there is almost no morphological marking of grammatical categories and there is relatively free word order. Gil (1994...

OBJECTIVE To understand the sociocultural meanings of childhood depression, from the medical-scientific concept of the disease. METHODS This was a qualitative study carried out in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil, in 2003. It consisted of ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews with eight psychiatrists from a public health service and nine relatives (p...

In this study, we analyze the role of several linguistic cues (prosodic units, pitch contours, discourse markers, morphological categories, and gaze direction) in French turntaking face-to-face interactions. Specifically, we investigate vocal and gestural backchannel signals (BCs) produced by a recipient to show his active listening. We show that some particular pitch contours and discursive ma...

Categories are not invariant. This paper attempts to explore the dynamic nature of semantic category, in particular, that of fashion language, based on the cognitive theory of Dawkins’ memetics, a new theory of cultural evolution. Semantic attributes of linguistic memes decrease or proliferate in replication and spreading, which involves a dynamic development of semantic category. More specific...

The basic aim of the model proposed here is to automatically build semantic metatext structure for texts that would allow us to search and extract discourse and semantic information from texts indexed in that way. This model is built up from two engines: The first engine, called EXCOM (Djioua et al., 2006), is an XML based system for an automatic annotation of texts according to discourse and s...

This study aimed to characterize midwives according to current concepts among health professionals and to identify the ideological premises underlying proposals for their training. Data from interviews with nine midwives, nurses, and physicians were interpreted using discourse analysis. The resulting empirical categories were "The Situation of Maternity Care in Brazil", "The Ideal (or Necessary...

Coreference choices are influenced by multiple factors, including information structural categories such as topic and focus. These information structural categories can be indicated by intonation, yet few studies have investigated how intonation affects subsequent choices for coreference. Using a story continuation experiment with aurally presented stimuli, we show that the location of contrast...

AIM The aim of the paper is (1) to offer an overview of different theoretical approaches to discourse analysis and (2) to review papers published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing from 1996-2004 in which discourse analysis is identified as a method of data analysis. BACKGROUND Discourse analysis offers rigorous approaches to analysing naturally occurring talk and texts. Forms of discourse an...

The article explores how normative notions of emotions and interaction are active in constructions of the categories of "human" and "animal" in different discourses about autism: scientific and autobiographical. In the scientific discourse of autistic emotionality, a deficit perspective of autism is central. The general affective deficit discourse relies on normative discursive notions of "huma...