bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Plünnecke inequalities for countable abelian groups
Authors: Björklund Michael , Fish Alexander
Published: March 2015

We establish in this paper a new form of Plünnecke-type inequalities for ergodic probability measure-preserving actions of any countable abelian group. Using a correspondence principle for product sets, this allows us to deduce lower bounds on the upper and lower Banach densities of
any product set in terms of the upper Banach density of an iterated
product set of one of its addends. These bounds are new already in the
case of the integers.

We also introduce the notion of an ergodic basis, which is parallel, but significantly weaker than the analogous notion of an additive basis, and deduce Plünnecke bounds on their impact functions with respect to
both the upper and lower Banach densities on any countable abelian
group.
Placental chorioangioma presenting prenatal hemolytic anemia and consumption coagulopathy: a case report
Authors: Inoue Reiko , Yumoto Yasuo , Fujita Yasuyuki , Ochiai Masayuki , Fukushima Kotaro , Kato Kiyoko
Published: March 2015

Large placental chorioangioma is a rare but serious complication of pregnancy. To our knowledge, this case is the first reported diagnosis of consumption coagulopathy in a fetus using fetal blood sampling (FBS) during pregnancy complicated by placental chorioangioma. A 25-year-old woman, primigravida, was referred to our hospital at 29 weeks of gestation for placental chorioangioma. At 34+1 gestation, polyhydramnios and hyperdynamic circulation were observed in the fetus. FBS demonstrated microangiopathic hemolytic anemia and the presence of consumption coagulopathy. Cesarean section was performed at 34+4 gestation because fetal maturation was expected. A female infant weighing 2158 g was born, with Apgar scores of 6 and 8 at 1 and 5 min, respectively. Neonatal blood sampling results were similar to those of FBS. The infant was treated for hyperdynamic cardiac function, hemolytic anemia, and consumption coagulopathy on mechanical ventilation in the neonatal intensive care unit and recovered fully. When fetal anemia is suspected in a case of large placental chorioangioma, the possibility of developing consumption coagulopathy during the fetal period should be considered.
Optical Time Division Multiplexing Using Terahertz Optical Asymmetric Demultiplexer
Authors: Kaur Kamaldeep , Bhatia K. S.
Published: March 2015

In this paper, optical time division multiplexing is demonstrated using TOAD (terahertz optical asymmetric demultiplexer), which employs semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) as nonlinear switching element. The TOAD device in its original configuration is based on Sagnac interferometer (also referred to as nonlinear optical loop mirror – NOLM).
Kants Revolutionen
Authors: Brandt Reinhard
Published: March 2015

In Kantian philosophy (between 1787 and 1798), the concept of revolution is used in the context of theoretical knowledge (geometry, physics, astronomy), metaphysics (his own critique) and morals (right, ethics). A revolution leads to a fundamental change: where the subject once had to follow external determinations, he now subdues objects via his own legislation. Heteronomy becomes autonomy. Kant organizes the revolutions in an order that follows not the empirical facts of history, but the structure of philosophical reason. The two most important texts are the Preface to the second edition of the
Die Idee des Existierenden und der Raum
Authors: Buchheim Thomas
Published: March 2015

Schelling’s
Bemerkungen zu Oliver Sensen, Kant on Human Dignity, Chapter 1
Authors: Schönecker Dieter
Published: March 2015

In this paper I sketchily deal with some critical points concerning the first chapter of Oliver Sensen’s book,
„die vernünftige Natur existirt als Zweck an sich selbst.“
Authors: Klemme Heiner F.
Published: March 2015

I argue that ‘end in itself’, as Kant uses it in the
Diversity and richness of small mammals at a well-conserved site of The Yungas in Jujuy Province, Argentina
Authors: Alurralde Santiago Gamboa , Berrizbeitia M. Fernanda López , Barquez Rubén M. , Díaz M. Mónica
Published: March 2015

We present the results obtained from 12 small-mammal surveys conducted between 1996 and 2013 in “Finca Las Capillas”, province of Jujuy, Argentina. This region has been formally recognized as an “Area of Importance for the Conservation of Bats” (AICOM) based on the diversity of species detected in our previous studies. This site in the Yungas forests of northwestern Argentina still maintains an excellent conservation status due to restrictions to human activities involving deforestation and limitations to cattle-raising imposed 50 years ago. A total of 39 species belonging to three orders, namely, Didelphimorphia, Chiroptera and Rodentia, were recorded. The species accumulation curve revealed that our records represent 83–95% of the community, and with high diversity indexes. Several of the genera and species that we recorded from our collection trips have been included in the fauna of Argentina. Our previous studies and the present findings provide new records for the province or significant extensions to previously known distributions of several taxa of small mammals. These results show that the site represents an icon for conservation in such a fragmented and exploited area as the Yungas in Argentina today.
Crystal structure of trans-((2-aminophenolato-κO)-(2-hydroxyphenylimido- κ2N,O)-bromido-bis(triphenylphosphane)-rhenium(V)) bromide – acetonitrile – water (1:2:1), C52H49Br2N4O3P2Re
Authors: Mukiza Janvier , Gerber Thomas I. A. , Hosten Eric C. , Betz Richard
Published: March 2015

C52H49Br2N4O3P2Re, triclinic, P1̄ (no. 2), a = 13.5222(9) Å, b = 14.1956(9) Å, c = 14.3102(9) Å, α = 92.096(3)°, β = 114.726(2)°, γ = 96.966(2)°, V = 2456.0 Å3, Z = 2, Rgt(F) = 0.0221, wRref(F2) = 0.0501, T = 200 K.
Some Thoughts on Dialectology and Spanish Historical Linguistics
Authors: Dworkin Steven N.
Published: March 2015

This paper offers some thoughts on the role of traditional dialect geography, a discipline that is rapidly being supplanted by sociolinguistics, in the study of Spanish and Romance historical linguistics. It rapidly surveys earlier contributions of dialect geography to Spanish and Romance historical linguistics, describes briefly several recent studies in Spanish historical linguistics that have made significant use of dialect data, and concludes with some observations on the future role of dialect data in evaluating competing theories and models of language change.
Phonological and Grammatical Variation in Exemplar Models
Authors: Bybee Joan , Torres Rena
Published: March 2015

Phonological and grammatical structure is shaped by usage patterns, as demonstrated by the effects of context and frequency on variation and change. We argue for an exemplar model of lexical representations, in which tokens of use are registered in memory, including phonetic detail as well as linguistic and social contextual information. Since variation is omnipresent in the input, it comes to be represented directly in cognitive representations, which are a record of speakers’ experience with language. Frequency of use and other lexical effects in sound change, which is gradual both phonetically and lexically, are built into exemplar models as the strengthening of exemplars by use and the clustering of exemplars based on phonetic and semantic similarities. The effects of particular lexical items and collocational discourse routines in morpho-syntactic variation and change, including the interaction of the particular and the general in grammaticization, are similarly modeled by the representation of specific instances of constructions and the gradient associations among related forms. Since variation in language use is pervasive and highly conditioned by context, exemplar models are particularly wellsuited to account for variation and change.
Nuclear Pitch Accents in Majorcan Catalan Declaratives: Phonology, Phonetics, Diachrony
Authors: Simonet Miquel
Published: March 2015

The present paper reports on the findings of an acoustic study of nuclear pitch accents in Majorcan Catalan. A total of 10 speakers participated in a production experiment. Nuclear pitch accents were investigated by measuring relative pitch changes between several sequential temporal landmarks in and around nuclear stressed syllables in read-aloud declaratives. The results provide evidence for the presence of a low (L) tone associated with the nuclear stressed syllable for 9 of the 10 participants, and that of a high (H) trailing tone for only 4 of the participants. The implications of these results for a phonological analysis of Majorcan Catalan nuclear pitch accents, as well as the diachrony of nuclear pitch accents in Iberian Romance, are discussed.
Abstractness and Motivation in Phonological Theory
Authors: Baković Eric
Published: March 2015

In this piece I adopt the standard textbook definition of abstractness in generative phonological theory, “the degree to which a UR [= underlying representation] of a morpheme may deviate from its associated PRs [= phonetic representations]” (Kenstowicz & Kisseberth 1979, p.179). I also adopt the perspective that a phonological analysis, independently of its degree of abstractness, is (only) as adequate as the motivation and evidence that can be produced in favor of it and against substantive alternatives. This is the focus of my remarks in this piece, featuring a thorough critique of the motivation and evidence for the abstract geminate rhotic representation of the intervocalic trill in Spanish (Harris 1969, 1983, 2001, 2002).
The Role of Abstraction in Syntax: From a Functionalist Perspective
Authors: Yoon Jiyoung
Published: March 2015

In the area of syntax, the notion of abstraction has been employed differently in the two major theoretical approaches of functionalist and formalist models. From the functional perspective, a typologically adequate linguistic model needs to look at universals without imposing too much abstraction on principles or representation. In contrast, the formalist model has been characterized by its tendency towards stating language universals in terms of abstract structures and principles. This paper argues that while these two traditionally opposing tendencies remain true, the difference between the functionalist and formalist models is the degree of abstraction, not a dichotomy of presence and absence of such a property. Functionalists also rely on a certain degree of abstraction in describing language depending on various functional-cognitive models within this approach. This paper also shows that the direction of Spanish functional syntax has been diverse and rich, employing a varying degree of abstraction of representation of language. The prediction for the future of the functionalist and formalist models is their eventual realignment, a process that may compromise their respective meaning-centered and the formcentered positions.
Linguistic Processing is Exemplar-Based
Authors: Eddington David
Published: March 2015

In contrast to rule systems, analogy assumes massive storage of previously experienced linguistic material. Accordingly, linguistic processing involves access to and comparison with this database of stored instances. Computationally explicit models of analogy allow analogical models to be tested empirically. One such model is shown to be quite effective in predicting the gender of Spanish nouns given their phonological makeup, and in mirroring gender errors made by children. Dialectal differences in diminutive formation is also explored analogically. While rule models postulate differing underlying structures and constraint ranking, analogy accounts for the dialectal variants as due to differences in the diminutives that are stored in a speaker's mental lexicon. Morphology is the result of connections made between words that share semantic and phonological traits.
Where and What is Morphology?
Authors: Varela Soledad
Published: March 2015

In contemporary linguistics the debate about the status and character of morphology is as recurrent as it is many-sided. Succinctly put, whereas some authors disperse morphological facts over the main grammatical components, others treat morphology as a subcomponent of the lexicon whose units interact in a regular and systematic way with phonology, syntax and semantics. I contend that it is this lexical status - which has been characterized as interfacial - that gives morphology its shape and character. This paper reviews the different ways the lexiconmorphology is conceived, and located within the grammar, by some of the most representative models put forward in recent years, and goes through the properties that are taken to define a linguistic component. In order to illustrate the interaction of phonology, semantics and syntax that takes place whenever lexicon-morphology is involved, a brief discussion is included of a case of word-formation that clearly reveals the interface nature of morphology.
Non-Past Concessive Sentences in Mexican Spanish and the Role of Position in Mood Alternation
Authors: Mira María Isabel Martínez
Published: March 2015

Following a functionalist approach, the goal of this study was to determine whether iconicity/position of the subordinate clause (in our case, non-past concessive clauses) played a role in mood alternation in Mexican Spanish. Initially, it was hypothesized that speakers of this variety of Spanish would favor the placement of the concessive clause with the verb in the subjunctive before the main clause; this was related to a more iconic value of the subordinate construction when the concessive clause is preposed, together with Lunn’s concept of (lack of) ‘relevance’/evaluative function of the subjunctive. Two sets of data were analyzed: speakers’ judgments of grammatical concessive clauses, and the informal oral production of concessive structures in an interview setting. Results support our original prediction differently depending on the type of instrument and data set analyzed.
Gothic Loanwords in Spanish and Portuguese: Evidence for Sounds and Sound Changes
Authors: Acosta Diego de
Published: March 2015

This article aims to bridge existing scholarship on Gothic and early Ibero-Romance phonology by examining the adaptation of Visigothic loanwords in Hispano- and Luso-Romance. There are considerable challenges in establishing Visigothic provenance for an Ibero-Romance word, which are due to recognized indeterminacies in the history of the Gothic language and peoples, as well as the deceptively stable Latin textual record of the early Middle Ages. Nevertheless, an updated survey of putative Gothic loanwords and their adaptation in Ibero-Romance reveals definite patterns and yields important information about the changing pronunciation of Ibero-Romance, as well as the pronunciation of Visigothic, at the time of borrowing.
Sobre as origens da vogal radical /i/ em sigo~siga no verbo galego-português: Um fenómeno de contacto linguístico?
Authors: Dubert-García Francisco
Published: March 2015

It is admitted that the origin of the height of the radical vowel of Galician and Portuguese sigo~siga and cubro~cubra is problematic: the expected vowel in that context, through a regular phonological evolution, should be mid-high, not high. Given that Galician, Portuguese, and Spanish, share the unexpected height of the radical vowel, and that it seems the high vowel first appeared and was consolidated in the central dialects of the Peninsula, I will propose that forms like sigo and cubro were originated in those central dialects and were taken and spread into the occidental dialects by a language contact situation. As the contact was more prolonged and intense in Galicia than in Portugal, Galician promoted variants like pido~pides~pide~pida, shared with Spanish, diverging in this respect from Portuguese, which blocked their spreading.
Investigating L2 Acquisition of Spanish Vocalic Sequences
Authors: MacLeod Bethany
Published: March 2015

While previous studies have investigated the acquisition of Spanish vowels by English speakers, none has examined how sequences of vowels are acquired. This study considers the developmental path of acquisition of diphthongs and hiatus by English-speaking learners of Spanish. Previous studies have found that duration is a robust acoustic cue to the difference between a diphthong and a hiatus (Face & Alvord 2004, Hualde & Prieto 2002). This study investigates how the durational difference is manifest in the speech of L2 learners of Spanish and how its realization changes as a function of proficiency in Spanish. In addition, transfer of a phonological constraint in English barring homorganic consonant-glide (CG) onset clusters (Davis & Hammond 1995, Ohala & Kawasaki-Fukumori 1997) and phonetic transfer of the relative intensity values of English glides, which have been found to be lower in English (MacLeod 2008), onto production of Spanish glides are also investigated. A delayed-repetition task with English and Spanish tokens tested 4 groups of speakers: beginning learners, intermediate learners, native Spanish speakers, and native English speakers. The results show that the learners produce a durational difference similar to the native speakers (in that hiatus were, on average, longer than diphthongs), but that the duration of the individual vowels was longer in the speech of the learners as compared to the native speakers. Transfer of the phonological constraint against homorganic CG clusters was found to some extent since glides in homorganic CG clusters were marginally statistically significantly longer than those in non-homorganic clusters in the speech of the beginning learners, but not for native Spanish speakers. In contrast, phonetic transfer of the relative intensity norms of English onto Spanish was not found since the learners produced Spanish glides with a higher relative intensity than the native Spanish speakers. The salience of duration and intensity for English speakers are discussed in concert with general articulatory concerns, both of the vocalic sequences themselves and in terms of the surrounding consonants.
The Functions of Postverbal Pronominal Subjects in Spoken Peninsular Spanish and European Portuguese
Authors: Posio Pekka
Published: March 2015

Although both constituent order and variation in the expression of pronominal subjects are well-established research topics in Hispanic and Lusophone linguistics, the placement of pronominal subjects has received relatively little attention in previous research. The goal of the present study is to fill this gap by examining postverbal pronominal subjects in spoken Peninsular Spanish and European Portuguese using data from the Corpus del Español and Corpus do Português, taking into account such factors as verb semantics and transitivity. It is shown that the factors affecting the placement of pronominal subjects differ from those related to nominal subjects, as pronouns typically represent old information in discourse. Pronominal subjects are relatively uncommon in the postverbal position in both languages, but especially in European Portuguese where they appear mostly in grammaticalized constructions (e.g. quotatives). The postverbal placement of pronominal subjects is often related to non-topical status of the subject and serves a backgrounding function in discourse. It is most frequently associated with twoargument verbs characterized by low transitivity.
Factors Influencing the Acquisition of Spanish Voiced Stop Spirantization during an Extended Stay Abroad
Authors: Alvord Scott M. , Christiansen Diane E.
Published: March 2015

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the acquisition of spirantization of /b, d, ɡ/ in the Spanish of adult learners who have spent two years abroad in a Spanish-speaking country. In addition to whether or not participants acquired spirantization, this study seeks to discover the influence of certain factors (e.g. style, prior Spanish instruction, Spanish language use, attitude, motivational intensity, etc.) on their target-like pronunciation of /b, d, ɡ/. Two different tasks were administered, one formal (a reading list) and another less formal (a read story). Tokens of /b, d, ɡ/ were analyzed spectrographically for manner of articulation. The results show that the majority of the learners pronounced target-like /b, d, ɡ/ over 80% of the time. A logistic regression analysis shows that the following factors are significant in their contribution to the acquisition of spirantization: Cultural Integration, Spanish language use, Empathy, Music Instruction, High School Spanish Instruction, and Motivational Intensity.
Chunking and the Reduction of the Preposition para ‘to, for’ in Brazilian Portuguese
Authors: Huback Ana Paula
Published: March 2015

This article investigates the reduction and contraction of the preposition para ‘to, for’ in Brazilian Portuguese (para ~ pra). Although this is a widespread reduction, it does not affect each instance of para. Corpora analysis shows that the reduction is more frequent in certain expressions, such as para ela ‘to/for her’ (81%), para minha ‘to my’ (77%), para frente ‘forward’ (75%), para casa ‘to home’ (74%). This paper offers evidence that this reduction can be explained due to the frequency of co-occurrence. The concepts of string frequency (cf. Krug 1998) and relative frequency (Torres Cacoullos 2006) are tested. The analysis suggests that speakers have multiple clouds of exemplars for the same word (or string of words) and that detailed information is stored along with individual words. It is also argued that whole words or frequently used expressions can be the units of lexical storage, and this is why frequency effects can build up and affect word production and language change.
The Syllabification of the Spanish On-Glide: A Behavioral Study
Authors: Shelton Michael , Gerfen Chip , Palma Nicolás Gutiérrez
Published: March 2015

This paper reports the findings of an experiment designed to test the syllabification of on-glides in Spanish by means of a behavioral task. Traditional approaches to Spanish syllabification assume that on-glides are syllabified with the vowel in the nucleus. However, findings from the developmental literature suggest that at least during early stages of acquisition an alternative onset syllabification is possible. The results of the present study reveal general support for the traditional nuclear approach to Spanish on-glides but also suggest the possibility of gradient syllabification patterns.
Conciliating States and Locations: Towards a More Comprehensive and In- Depth Account of the Spanish Copula Estar
Authors: Mangialavori Ma. Eugenia
Published: March 2015

The case of estar may reveal how different proposals of study have failed to grasp grammatically relevant semantic features shared by its occurrences. The results of this study indicate that an integrative analysis of estar clauses would account not only for the consistent lexical properties observed - comprising (a)analogous lexical-syntactic structure predicting possible copular complements, (b)analogous selectional restrictions and (c)interpretative effects -, but also for the complementary distribution of two aspectually nontrivial verbal alternations (ser / estar and estar / haber). Our proposal lays on the standard syntactic structure of copular clauses - assumed to embrace locative clauses, against what traditional Spanish grammar suggests - in combination with (i) the structural analogy between estar’s alternative complements (APs and PPs) and (ii) the understanding of states as abstract spatial domains (be at). Thus, the eventual differences between clauses like ‘estoy triste’ and ‘estoy en casa’ could be accounted for by virtue of the semantic / syntactic properties of the lexical head selected.
Methods for Researching Second Language Phonological and Phonetic Acquisition
Authors: Shea Christine
Published: March 2015

In this commentary I provide a brief overview of selected research areas and methodology used to study adult L2 phonology and phonetics. I focus the discussion on studies that include Spanish as either the first or target language.
Finalidade e domínio: a forma verbal nas orações finais introduzidas por para
Authors: Vesterinen Rainer
Published: March 2015

The present paper deals with the occurrence of different verb forms in European Portuguese purpose clauses. A quantitative analysis is conducted in order to detect general tendencies in the use of the infinitive, the inflected infinitive and the subjunctive mood in this grammatical context. From a Cognitive Grammar perspective of linguistic analysis, it is argued that the occurrence of different verb forms can be explained by the concept of dominion. An additional analysis of the subjunctive mood and infinitival verb forms in other grammatical contexts suggests that the notion of dominion can offer a general explanation for the meaning of the subjunctive mood.
Explaining Variation And Change In Spanish Peripheral Fricatives
Authors: Mazzaro Natalia
Published: March 2015

The variation between labial and velar fricatives ([f] > [x], e.g. [x]uego fuego ‘fire,’ [x]umar fumar ‘to smoke’) frequently occurs in disparate Spanish dialects (from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, New Mexico, among others) (Quilis 1993) and it is found in first language acquisition (Eblen 1982 and Greenlee 1992). The change [f] > [x] or [x] > [f] has also been observed in other languages such as English, Diola, Chinese, Tuareg, Hausa, among others (Foulkes 1997). Although the variation between [f] and [x] is so common cross-linguistically, there is no adequate understanding of the linguistic and social motivations that affect it. Using the variationist sociolinguistics framework (Labov 1972 and Weinreich, Labov & Herzog 1968), this study analyzes the variation of such fricatives in the speech of 25 native speakers of Corrientes (Argentine) Spanish. Results indicate that two main factors affect [f] > [x] variation in Spanish: i) phonetic context and ii) literacy (or lack of formal education).
Acquiring verbal morphology in Georgian
Authors: Lomashvili Leila
Published: March 2015

Languages with polysynthetic morphology present excellent opportunities for the study of how complex inflectional systems are acquired. This paper investigates aspects of the acquisition of verbal morphology in Georgian, including person agreement morphemes, roots, and inflectional mini-paradigms. The paper aims to uncover the strategies that children use in the early segmentation of verb morphemes, and specifically, the role of phonological and prosodic factors in this process. The study evaluates the effect of semantic criteria in morpheme extraction, and it is argued that the phonological, prosodic, and semantic properties of morphemes interact in complex ways in the acquisition of verbal morphology.
The Structure of Job 3
Authors: Barbiero Gianni
Published: March 2015

Hi 3 gliedert sich in drei Cantos: V. 3–10 (Verfluchung), V. 11–19 und 20–26 (zwei Klagen, durch למה eingeleitet). Die

Job 3 is divided into three Cantos: vv. 3–10 (Cursing), vv. 11–19 and 20–26 (two Lamentations, introduced with למה). For its part, the

Jb 3 est divisé en trois chants : v. 3–10 (malédiction), v. 11–19 et 20–26 (deux lamentations, introduites par למה).
“I’ll be bound”
Authors: Eckert Lindsey
Published: March 2015

Lindsey Eckert, “‘I’ll be bound’: John Clare’s ‘Don Juan,’ Literary Annuals, and the Commodification of Authorship” (pp. 427–454)

From 1826 to 1844, at least forty-seven of John Clare’s poems appeared in British literary annuals. Though these poems represent his most commercial work, Clare’s engagement with the annuals has remained largely neglected by scholars. This essay addresses this gap, and the intervention I make is twofold. First, I argue for the centrality of the literary annuals to Clare’s authorial career. Second, I suggest that Clare’s simultaneous dependence on and disdain for the annuals is essential to interpreting his invectives in “Don Juan” (composed 1841) against “poet whores” and the bad taste of female readers. I argue that annuals shaped Clare’s understanding of commerciality and, by extension, his asylum poem “Don Juan.” My focus sheds new light on our understanding of Clare’s authorship and his interactions with the literary marketplace.
Entropy in the Circuits
Authors: Larsen Erik
Published: March 2015

Erik Larsen, “Entropy in the Circuits: McTeague’s Apocalyptic Posthumanism” (pp. 509–538)

This essay reinterprets Frank Norris’s novel McTeague: A Story of San Francisco (1899) as a depiction of the annihilating effects of entropy on human and material systems. Focusing on McTeague’s lengthy and underanalyzed conclusion, in which McTeague flees into the heart of Death Valley, I argue that Norris’s descriptions of the desert identify an irresistible and destructive force guiding the disintegration of individuals, relationships, and ultimately the Earth itself. Drawing on the record of cultural anxieties surrounding the laws of thermodynamics in the nineteenth century, the essay demonstrates how McTeague exemplifies an “apocalyptic posthumanism” with implications far more disruptive to human exceptionalism than those of traditional biological determinism. The essay also interprets social, biological, and material systems in the novel as attempting, unsuccessfully, to resist entropic decline by channeling and diversifying forces through systems resembling electrical circuits. In this context, gold is read as the “current” or “currency” subtending California’s economic and social worlds, but also that which drives them to greater and greater states of entropic disorder and eventual collapse.
The category (Greek) ‘woman’, or ‘lady’, or ‘girl’, or ‘lass’, or…
Authors: Makri-Tsilipakou Marianthi
Published: March 2015

This paper examines instances of the use of Greek category terms for women in the context of consecutive repairs/reformulations. It turns out that most of the times category terms actually categorise, rather than simply refer as (non-)recognitionals, in a reflexive interaction with category-bound predicates, the linguistic cotext and relevant (often sexist) conventional/cultural knowledge. Interestingly, gendered items do not always (primarily) index gender as they might be foregrounding other aspects of the interaction as well, thus documenting their highly indexical character.
‘Religion’ in the Middle East
Authors: Lewis Kevin
Published: March 2015

A personal, reflective account of a probing for indications in the Muslim Middle East of anything resembling ‘implicit’ religion as noted in the West. Tentative result: initial dismissal of parallels to ‘civil’ religion, followed by argument that Thomas Luckmann’s ‘invisible’ rather than an ‘implicit’ religion theory invites more appropriate consideration when appraising general religious life as observed by a visiting Western religionist during two extended residencies in, first, Gaza and then Jordan. Risking a charge of ‘orientalism,’ the conclusion holds that eventually an evolving, eclectic ‘invisible’ religiousness, responding as it will to steadily seeping Western-powered globalization, will moderate the more extreme forms of reactionary Islamism in the region – as it increasingly empowers individualization and subjectivization.
Transcending Towards Transcendence
Authors: Ruschmann Eckart
Published: March 2015

The following analysis aims to illustrate how, over the course of time, different meanings have become associated with the term transcendence. The article proposes distinguishing between the ontological meaning (i.e. the realm of transcendence) and the anthropological or epistemic use (i.e. the act or process of transcending, experientially and conceptually). Presenting examples from sociology (Thomas Luckmann) and psychology (Abraham H. Maslow) it will be illustrated that lack of discrimination may support or even foster an ontological reductionism which impedes adequate differentiation between humanistic (secular) and spiritual/religious ways to constitute values and meaning. A structural epistemological approach is described and recommended, as a respectful reconstruction of various ontological and metaphysical positions and background convictions in personal world-views.
Address at the Funeral of Karen Pärna – September 8, 2012
Authors: Ter Borg Meerten B.
Published: March 2015

Meerten B. ter Borg's address at the funeral of Karen Pärna: his former PhD student, colleague and dear friend.
Playing with Religion in Contemporary Theatre
Authors: De Groot Kees
Published: March 2015

Contemporary theatre sometimes uses religious language, symbols, and poses. What do these references mean? Reflection on four productions shows the usefulness of tools developed in the study of liturgy. First, this helps to produce an account of the roles of the sacred and of community in theatre shows. Secondly, this throws light on the appearance of religion in ‘liquid modernity’. Thirdly, the study of religion in theatre shows how boundaries between fields are fluid – not only between arts and religion, but also between the field of arts and the academic field. Both deal with the significance of religion in a world where religious traditions are questioned and used, both in and outside the religious sphere.
Theorizing the Sacred
Authors: Heelas Paul
Published: March 2015

Existentially, what is it to live within the secular without the sacred? In the absence of religion, can secular frames of reference provide worthwhile sources of significance? For Charles Taylor, “religious longing, the longing for and response to a more-than-immanent transformation perspective … remains a strong independent source of motivation in modernity.” In line with this contention, I argue that the secular is frequently taken to be inadequate: to self-deflate. This essay applies a range of arguments: the role played by ideals, the implicit, the yearning emanating from the imperfect (that is, the secular frame of reference); and the roles played by what the perfect (that is, the sacred) has to promise. Rather than being some kind of end-point (self-sustaining, self-containing, self-limiting), the secular frame of reference readily generates momentum towards, sometimes into, the “truly” perfect. The notion of “a secular age” has to be qualified.
Qualifying Secular Sacralizations
Authors: Jespers Frans , Kleijbeuker David , Schattevoet Yentl
Published: March 2015

We propose a model for qualifying the experiences that people have with “free floating objects and events of religion.” The theories of implicit religion or nonreligion do not offer such a refinement. With the help of Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age we conceptualize both religion and secularity in a positive way. Using Meerten ter Borg’s theory, we distinguish within the secular field three degrees of religiosity that are rather near to religion in the strict sense: (1) functional equivalents of religion, (2) moments of sacralization, and (3) fragments of sacralization. Some examples and analogies confirm the adequacy of this model.
List of the Publications in English of M. B. Ter Borg
Authors: Ter Borg Meerten B.
Published: March 2015

Meerten B. ter Borg was senior lecturer in the sociology of religion and Professor of Non-Institutional Religion at Leiden University. He wrote many books and articles on implicit religion and sense-making, in Dutch. In English he published in Implicit Religion, Sociological Analysis and in the Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion. This symposium is organized on the occasion of his retirement. As an emeritus he will devote himself to the study of the biology of religion and sense-making.

Four-fifths of Meerten ter Borg’s publications, including many articles and eight books, are written in Dutch and published in the Netherlands. This list concerns only the work that is written in English.
The Tenacity of the God-Problem: The Notion of God in Implicit Religion
Authors: Dupré Wilhelm
Published: March 2015

Whereas the concept of implicit religion relates to the emergence of new religious attitudes within, and apart from, explicitly religious traditions, the god-problem presents itself as an issue of particular concern, especially when it seems to be irrelevant. To shed light on this problem the paper concentrates on the formation of god-symbols and the relations between them by taking into consideration that the dynamics of cultural reality generates its own god-symbols. Since this process necessarily leads to the one symbol of cultural reality, it compels us to think of this symbol as the ultimately one god-symbol which collects all other god-symbols as its elements, to the effect that it precedes them in terms of measure and principle. The paper discusses some of the ramifications of this symbol by focusing on its meaning in religious traditions, as well as in connection with doctrinal considerations which accompany and mark the emergence of implicit religion.
A Fourth Time of Trial
Authors: McDonald Jermaine M.
Published: March 2015

This article revisits Robert Bellah’s conception of civil religion in America (using his methodology of deconstructing presidential addresses and other important political discourses), to posit that America is in the midst of a fourth time of trial, for which consensus on American identity and meaning in the world is in jeopardy. To that end, I revisit Bellah’s third time of trial to account for salient themes that have been added to American civil religion resulting from this period. Next, I analyse the public discourse of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama regarding the impact of 9/11 on American attitudes towards Muslims in America, to determine how the tenets of American civil religion have been affirmed, challenged, and critiqued in this time of trial, arguing for the need of a more implicit and inclusive understanding of civil religion. Finally, I suggest examples of Muslim Americans contributing to the broadening of recognizably American identity that aligns with the ways in which the post-9/11 presidents have made the case for an increase in American tolerance and diversity.
Believing, Belonging, Begatting
Authors: Keenan William J. F.
Published: March 2015

A transdisciplinary implicit religion framework is deployed to illuminate the cultic academic milieu of late modern university culture. Applying the three related “real” religion tropes (believing, belonging, begatting), structural and cultural features of subterranean “sapiential faiths” are identified and critiqued, with a view to enhancing reflexive knowledge of the academic form of life and contributing to the enlargement of the conversation on faith and reason.
Editorial
Authors: Harrison Ted
Published: March 2015

Editor's Introduction
Music as an Aid to Philosophizing about Religion
Authors: Donovan Peter
Published: March 2015

Music and religion have long been experienced together, yet music’s significance for implicit religion awaits thoroughgoing study. This paper tackles a related task: using music as an example to help develop a philosophical approach to religion as a whole, which is broad and flexible enough to do justice to contemporary religious studies, including the study of implicit religion and spirituality. D.Z. Phillips’s (Wittgenstein-influenced) “contemplative” philosophy of religion offers a promising development, beyond the predominantly Western, monotheistic and conceptual approach of much post-war philosophy of religion. However it needs fresh and accessible examples of distinctive “forms of life” drawn from beyond religion. Here is where music can help. Music, whether lay or professional, highbrow or lowbrow, reminds us of an area of life which has its own distinctive discourse, within which notions of transcendence, spirit, perfection and the like seem thoroughly at home. To understand this fully requires a contemplative (or “appreciative”) approach of involvement and participation. Comparing word-use in religious and musical contexts shows up significant common aspects such as performance, recreation and entertainment. When religion is appreciated as more like music and other arts, then modern scientific theories as to its origins, and philosophical questions about its truth or falsity, ontology, epistemology or rationality, seem less obviously applicable, or troubling.
The Subjective Secularization of Great Britain, 1991–2007
Authors: Swenson Donald
Published: March 2015

Scholarly debates continue to abound on the theme and the theory of secularization and its counterpart, sacralization. This paper will present a succinct review of relevant sources that address this debate. The focus will be on what Berger terms “subjective secularization,” and evidence from a longitudinal study of British subjects surveyed from 1991 to 2007 will provide substantial support for a subjective secularization thesis.
Measuring Spirituality as Personal Belief in Supernatural Forces
Authors: Schuurmans-Stekhoven James
Published: March 2015

Critical evaluations of commonly used spirituality measures find many wanting— with most lacking the properties required of scientific measures. Common deficiencies include using non-representative development samples, a failure to satisfy normality assumptions, and the confounding of related yet-distinct constructs (e.g. religiosity, wellbeing, civility, prosociality, virtues, etc). The current paper utilizes two studies to examine the psychometric properties of the 7-item Character Strength Inventory-Spirituality (CSI-Spirit; Isaacowitz, Seligman and Valiant 2003). Factor analytic investigations (exploratory and confirmatory) suggest that six items reliably (Cronbach’s a > .70) capture a single latent construct that accounts for around 45% of the variance in responses. This truncated CSI-Spirit appears normally distributed and uni-dimensional. Item difficulty (as reflected by mean scores on items) varies and total scores converge meaningfully with religious affiliation and measures of religiosity, spirituality, paranormal beliefs, wellbeing, agreeableness and conscientiousness. In summary, the CSI-Spirit appears statistically robust and its brevity makes it ideal for individual assessment (in psychological practice) and large scale socioepidemiological research purposes.
The Zen Path Through Depression, by Philip Martin. HarperOne, 2009. 176pp., Pb, US$13.99. ISBN-13: 97800061725463.
Authors: Cheng Fung Kei
Published: March 2015

Book review.
Human Rights: Concept and Context by Brian Orend. Broadview Press, 2002. 272pp., pb. US$34.95. ISBN-13: 9781551114361.
Authors: Doe Michael
Published: March 2015

Book review
Where We Have Gone Before
Authors: Ammon Laura
Published: March 2015

Star Trek functions as a religion though its universe is explicitly humanistic and secular. Star Trek Into Darkness offers an interpretation of 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the creators may not have intended the film as a religious text, it offers an analysis of what happened, a set of responses, pointing to a path forward, incorporating those events into the Star Trek (and ultimately our own) universe. I will offer a close reading of Star Trek Into Darkness that explores the negotiation of what it means to be human and our place in the post- 9/11 world. My thesis is that the film can be read as implicitly religious in two senses. First, it offers a vision of what is human in the face of questions of terrorism and pre-emptive strikes, duty and honor, life and death. Second, it offers viewers a reflection on possible responses to 9/11 and the aftermath, pointing forward. It is a secular homily on being human in the past, present, and future.
Religion/Science/Fiction
Authors: Busto Rudy V
Published: March 2015

Science fiction is conventionally assumed to be hostile to religion. This article argues that science fiction stories not only belie this assumption, but can even promote religious speculation. Science fiction’s techniques, the intervention by African American and other ethnic minority writers in the literature, and the use of science fiction in the college classroom, all call into question any definitive boundary between science and religion.
Salvation from Illusion, Salvation by Illusion
Authors: Faithful George
Published: March 2015

That science fiction implicitly conveys religious world views is evident in the cinematic corpus of writer-director Christopher Nolan. The Prestige, Inception, and Nolan’s Batman trilogy represent a variation on Gnosticism, in that salvation comes from a secret way of seeing the world. Nolan’s vision, however, is a repudiation of Gnostic norms, for salvation hinges not on the truth, but on the perfect lie. Illusion is both what is being redeemed, and the means of its redemption. Contrary to traditional Western religious norms, in Nolan’s stories the truth is destructive; it is deception that is salvific. Yet, counter the mainstreams of post-modern culture, in the worlds that Nolan crafts not all constructed perspectives are equally viable. To understand Nolan’s work clearly is to have insight into popular culture, into those who consume it, and, perhaps, into reality itself.
Fluid Selfhood, Human and Otherwise
Authors: Sullivan Bruce Millen
Published: March 2015

Science fiction has creatively imagined future and alternative worlds in which Hindu and Buddhist concepts figure prominently. Rebirth is a particularly rich idea, manifested both literally and metaphorically in the literary works considered here. The distinctive Indic understandings of human consciousness that underlie the Hindu and Buddhist religious traditions’ conceptions of human nature lend themselves to literary incarnations of artificial intelligence in a variety of ways. Traditional Hindu and Buddhist religious discourses on selfhood and rebirth have been adapted and integrated into the science fiction works discussed in this article in their reflections on human nature and artificial intelligence. However, this fiction also presents science and technology as implicitly religious, as being means to attain traditional religious goals such as immortal life.
Science Fiction, Historical Fiction and Religion Fiction?
Authors: Bailey Edward
Published: March 2015

Afterword
Why Study Implicit Religion? An Account of the 27th Denton Conference on Implicit Religion, 7-9 May 2004
Authors: Parna Karen
Published: March 2015

Denton Hall in Yorkshire, UK, has been the seat of academic weekends devoted to research on implicit religion since the late 1970’s, more or less the lifetime of some of us younger participants in the latest conference. Judging from the very full schedule of the weekend that took place from 7–9 May this year, in those years study in the field has anything but exhausted itself. This year’s conference offered a broad range of topics and disciplines, and the cases presented promise to open up more and more interesting new domains. It would appear that the implicit religion approach lends itself to most facets of our society—from explicit religion to healthcare; from the business world to youth culture. What seems to tie the different uses of the concept together is not so much a unanimous understanding of what implicit religion is or should be. Rather, it is a shared interest in religiosity as something not necessarily institutionalised but nonetheless very much present in the modern world. However, if implicit religion can be described as a ‘common cause’, then what are its goals and what is the agenda of those studying it today?