RSSSensing Proportionalities
Oct 04
general observations, semantics 1 Comment
emotion is to desire
as
perception is to cognition
—∞—
perception is to emotion
as
cognition is to desire
Gravity Vs Weight
Sep 27
general observations No Comments
Gravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. In everyday life, gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped.
Asch conformity experiments
Sep 25
education and academia, general observations 2 Comments
The Asch conformity experiments were a series of studies published in the 1950s that demonstrated the power of conformity in groups. These are also known as the Asch Paradigm.
Experiments led by Solomon Asch of Swarthmore College asked groups of students to participate in “vision tests”. In reality, all but one of the participants were confederates of the experimenter, and the study was really about how the remaining student would react to the confederates’ behaviour.
In the basic Asch paradigm, the participants — the real subjects and the confederates — were all seated in a classroom. They were asked a variety of questions about the lines such as how long is A, compare the length of A to an everyday object, which line was longer than the other, which lines were the same length, etc. The group was told to announce their answers to each question out loud. The confederates always provided their answers before the study participant, and always gave the same answer as each other. They answered a few questions correctly but eventually began providing incorrect responses.
In a control group, with no pressure to conform to an erroneous view, only one subject out of 35 ever gave an incorrect answer. Solomon Asch hypothesized that the majority of people would not conform to something obviously wrong; however, when surrounded by individuals all voicing an incorrect answer, participants provided incorrect responses on a high proportion of the questions (32%). Seventy-five percent of the participants gave an incorrect answer to at least one question.
Variations of the basic paradigm tested how many cohorts were necessary to induce conformity, examining the influence of just one cohort and as many as fifteen. Results indicate that one cohort has virtually no influence and two cohorts have only a small influence. When three or more cohorts are present, the tendency to conform is relatively stable.
The unanimity of the confederates has also been varied. When the confederates are not unanimous in their judgment, even if only one confederate voices a different opinion, participants are much more likely to resist the urge to conform than when the confederates all agree. This finding illuminates the power that even a small dissenting minority can have. Interestingly, this finding holds whether or not the dissenting confederate gives the correct answer. As long as the dissenting confederate gives an answer that is different from the majority, participants are more likely to give the correct answer.
Sound symbolism
Aug 25
general observations No Comments
A basic explanation of the idea that some sounds are inherently linked to particular meanings that are common across languages as well as common to a range of animal species.
— John J. Ohala, professor emeritus of linguistics, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
Click here.
Essentialism Vs Population Thinking
Jun 08
epistemology, general observations, suitable quotations 1 Comment
Western thinking for more than two thousand years after Plato was dominated by essentialism. It was not until the nineteenth century that a new and different way of thinking about nature began to spread, so-called population thinking. What is population thinking and how does it differ from essentialism? Population thinkers stress the uniqueness of everything in the organic world. What is important to them is the individual, not the type. They emphasise that every individual in a sexually reproducing species is uniquely different from all others, with much individuality even existing in uniparentally reproducing ones. There is no ‘typical’ individual, and mean values are abstractions. Much of what in the past has been designated in biology as ‘classes’ are populations consisting of unique individuals.
Ernst Mayr ‘The Growth Of Biological Thought‘
Are Physical Equations Linguistic Semiosis?
May 24
general observations, mode and modalities No Comments
E=mc²
Energy equals mass [multiplied by the speed [of light [squared]]].
This is an intensive identifying relational clause.
The Value is realised by a nominal group with a Qualifier involving three levels of embedding.
(i.e. yes)
Are Chemical Equations Linguistic Semiosis?
May 22
general observations, mode and modalities No Comments
CH4 + 2 O2 
CO2 + 2 H2O
(one molecule of) methane and (two molecules of) oxygen yields (one molecule of) carbon dioxide and (two molecules of) water.
This is a causal circumstantial identifying relational clause.
The Token and Value are both realised by nominal group complexes in each of which the relation between the nominal groups is paratactic extension.
(i.e. yes)
Are Mathematical Derivations Linguistic Semiosis?
May 22
general observations, mode and modalities No Comments
Each mathematical equation is an intensive identifying clause.
The entire derivation is a clause complex of paratactic elaboration.
The solution of a derivation is a decoding identifying clause
in which the unknown (x) functions as a Token identified by a mathematical Value.
(i.e. yes)
dialect map of USA comes to our attention
Apr 13
general observations american, dialect, phonology, pronunciation No Comments
thanks to twitter, followed a link to this most interesting website, maintained as a hobby by someone called Rick Aschmann. he apologises to those whose emails he has not yet answered – the site has generated many more, apparently, since several other websites posted notes and articles about his work on this site…
interesting for the design for a start.
it’s a cornucopia in concept, boxes of this and that all neatly separated according to sub-topic, with heaps of blue underlining which normally signifies links to further information, and small headings in red for notes, dates and so on.
there are links to recordings of speakers, and a map which shows the different dialects of the north american continent, along with related links to audio of representative speakers for that area. as well as calls for more sample recordings of speakers from areas that he has not been able to collect yet…
the dialect map is also available in pdf form so interested parties can print it out.
what more can you ask for?
a MAP plus audio recordings of speakers linked to the map????
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