bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dendritic cell SIRT1–HIF1α axis programs the differentiation of CD4
+
T cells through IL-12 and TGF-β1
Authors: Liu Guangwei , Bi Yujing , Xue Lixiang , Zhang Yan , Yang Hui , Chen Xi , Lu Yun , Zhang Zhengguo , Liu Huanrong , Wang Xiao , Wang Ruoning , Chu Yiwei , Yang Ruifu
Published: February 2015

Significance

Naive CD4
+
T cells differentiate into diverse effector and regulatory subsets to orchestrate immunity and tolerance. Whereas the mechanism of T-cell intrinsic signals has been extensively studied, how T-cell lineage differentiation is controlled by innate immune signals remains unknown. Here we used loss-of-function mouse systems, combined with other complementary approaches and models, to define the role of dendritic cell (DC) sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) as a key regulator in orchestrating the orientation of T-cell differentiation via HIF1α signaling in a mammalian target of rapamycin–independent manner. DC-expressed SIRT1, a type III histone deacetylase, programmed reciprocal T helper 1 (T
H
1) and regulatory T-cell (T
reg
) differentiation by modulating IL-12–STAT4 and TGF-β1–SMAD3 axes and cytokine receptor expressions at the DC–T-cell interface.
Cell-specific proteomic analysis in
Caenorhabditis elegans
Authors: Yuet Kai P. , Doma Meenakshi K. , Ngo John T. , Sweredoski Michael J. , Graham Robert L. J. , Moradian Annie , Hess Sonja , Schuman Erin M. , Sternberg Paul W. , Tirrell David A.
Published: February 2015

Significance

The emergence of mass spectrometry-based proteomics has revolutionized the study of proteins and their abundances, functions, interactions, and modifications. However, it is difficult to monitor dynamic changes in protein synthesis in a specific cell type within its native environment. Here we describe a method that enables the metabolic labeling, purification, and analysis of proteins in specific cell types and during defined periods in live animals. Using
Caenorhabditis elegans
, we show that labeling can be restricted to body wall muscles, intestinal epithelial cells, neurons, pharyngeal muscle, and cells that respond to heat shock. By coupling our methodology with isotopic labeling, we successfully identify proteins—including proteins with previously unknown expression patterns—expressed in targeted subsets of cells.
Epigenetic control of intestinal barrier function and inflammation in zebrafish
Authors: Marjoram Lindsay , Alvers Ashley , Deerhake M. Elizabeth , Bagwell Jennifer , Mankiewicz Jamie , Cocchiaro Jordan L. , Beerman Rebecca W. , Willer Jason , Sumigray Kaelyn D. , Katsanis Nicholas , Tobin David M. , Rawls John F. , Goll Mary G. , Bagnat Michel
Published: February 2015

Significance

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, are intestinal disorders of poorly understood origin and are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. A crucial factor associated with IBD onset is the presence of elevated levels of the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in the intestine, signified by the use of anti-TNF therapy to treat patients with Crohn’s disease. Despite its pathogenic relevance, the mechanisms regulating TNF expression and IBD onset remain largely unknown. Here, we show that loss of epigenetic regulation results in the induction of TNF in the intestinal epithelium, leading to a loss of intestinal barrier function and inflammation. Our results suggest that mutations in genes controlling epigenetic regulators can lead to IBD onset.
Sugar-based amphiphilic nanoparticles arrest atherosclerosis in vivo
Authors: Lewis Daniel R. , Petersen Latrisha K. , York Adam W. , Zablocki Kyle R. , Joseph Laurie B. , Kholodovych Vladyslav , Prud’homme Robert K. , Uhrich Kathryn E. , Moghe Prabhas V.
Published: February 2015

Significance

Lipid-rich plaques in major blood vessels recruit macrophages that further exacerbate the lipid burden and risk of heart attacks or stroke. A local approach to prevent plaque growth has yet to be successfully deployed. In this study, we examine how synthetic ligands counteract macrophage atherogenesis and de-escalate plaque burden. Using a library of sugar-based amphiphilic core-shell layered nanoparticles, we demonstrate the design principles necessary to prevent oxidized lipid uptake and suppress scavenger receptor expression in macrophages, switching them to an “atheroprotective” phenotype. When administered in vivo, nanoparticles were retained at atherosclerotic lesions, where they mitigated cholesterol clefts, inflammation, and artery occlusion. Thus, synthetic nanomedicines could be used to potentially treat acute coronary syndrome, a major unmet need in cardiovascular diseases.
ATF3 mediates inhibitory effects of ethanol on hepatic gluconeogenesis
Authors: Tsai Wen-Wei , Matsumura Shigenobu , Liu Weiyi , Phillips Naomi G. , Sonntag Tim , Hao Ergeng , Lee Soon , Hai Tsonwin , Montminy Marc
Published: February 2015

Significance

Insulin resistance is a major risk factor for the development of diabetes. Associated increases in hepatic glucose production contribute to this process by promoting compensatory increases in insulin secretion that eventually lead to islet failure. This study characterizes the role of ATF3, a transcriptional repressor of the basic region-leucine zipper (bZIP) family, in mediating the hypoglycemic effects of acute alcohol consumption through the down-regulation of gluconeogenic genes. Based on the ability of ATF3 to displace CREB and its coactivator CRTC2 from CREB-binding sites on gluconeogenic genes, we imagine that small molecules with similar activity may provide therapeutic benefits to individuals with type II diabetes.
Cell stress increases ATP release in NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated autoinflammatory diseases, resulting in cytokine imbalance
Authors: Carta Sonia , Penco Federica , Lavieri Rosa , Martini Alberto , Dinarello Charles Anthony , Gattorno Marco , Rubartelli Anna
Published: February 2015

Significance

Single amino acid mutations in NLRP3 in patients with cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes (CAPS) lead to oversecretion of IL-1β, resulting in severe inflammatory manifestations. How this occurs is unclear. We show here that cellular stress in blood monocytes contributes to CAPS pathophysiology, allowing copious release of ATP in response to minute concentrations of inflammatory stimuli. As a consequence, the released ATP enhances NLRP3-mediated secretion of IL-1β and IL-18 by activating P2X purinoceptor 7. Later, CAPS cells undergo oxidative stress, which impairs secretion of the anti-inflammatory IL-1 receptor antagonist, worsening the clinical picture. Antioxidants rescue the reduced production of the antagonist. Blocking extracellular ATP and improving stress tolerance may represent novel therapeutic strategies in autoinflammatory diseases.
Rare variants in neuronal excitability genes influence risk for bipolar disorder
Authors: Ament Seth A. , Szelinger Szabolcs , Glusman Gustavo , Ashworth Justin , Hou Liping , Akula Nirmala , Shekhtman Tatyana , Badner Judith A. , Brunkow Mary E. , Mauldin Denise E. , Stittrich Anna-Barbara , Rouleau Katherine , Detera-Wadleigh Sevilla D. , Nurnberger John I. , Edenberg Howard J. , Gershon Elliot S. , Schork Nicholas ,   The Bipolar Genome Study, Price Nathan D. , Gelinas Richard , Hood Leroy , Craig David , McMahon Francis J. , Kelsoe John R. , Roach Jared C. , Kelsoe John R. , Greenwood Tiffany A. , Nievergelt Caroline M. , Shilling Paul D. , Shekhtman Tatyana , Roach Jared C. , Ament Seth A. , Hood Leroy , Nurnberger John I. , Edenberg Howard J. , Foroud Tatiana , Koller Daniel L. , Gershon Elliot S. , Badner Judith A. , Liu Chunyu , Scheftner William A. , Lawson William B. , Coryell William , Potash James B. , Rice John , Byerley William , McMahon Francis J. , Hou Liping , Berrettini Wade H. , Zandi Peter P. , McInnis Melvin G. , Craig David W. , Szelinger Szabolcs , Schulze Thomas G. , Schork Nicholas J. , Quarless Danjuma
Published: February 2015

Significance

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a common, severe, and recurrent psychiatric disorder with no known cure and substantial morbidity and mortality. Heritable causes contribute up to 80% of the lifetime risk for BD. Common genetic variation explains ∼25% of this heritable risk. Rare genetic variants may explain additional risk. We identified contributions of rare variants to BD by sequencing the genomes of 200 individuals from 41 families with BD. The two main findings of this study were as follows: rare risk variants for BD were enriched in genes and pathways that regulate diverse aspects of neuronal excitability; and most of these risk variants were noncoding with predicted regulatory functions. These results highlight specific hypotheses for future research and potential therapeutic targets.
Therapeutic antitumor immunity by checkpoint blockade is enhanced by ibrutinib, an inhibitor of both BTK and ITK
Authors: Sagiv-Barfi Idit , Kohrt Holbrook E. K. , Czerwinski Debra K. , Ng Patrick P. , Chang Betty Y. , Levy Ronald
Published: February 2015

Significance

Antibodies that block the negative signals between PD1-Ligand on tumor cells and PD-1 on T cells are effective therapies against several types of cancer. Ibrutinib, a covalent inhibitor of BTK is an approved therapy for B-cell leukemia and lymphoma. But ibrutinib also inactivates ITK, an enzyme required for certain subsets of T lymphocytes (Th2 T cells). We found that the combination of anti–PD-L1 antibodies and ibrutinib led to impressive therapeutic effects not only in animal models of lymphoma but, surprisingly, also in models of breast cancer and colon cancer. Based on these preclinical results, we suggest that the combination of PD-1/PD-L1 blockade and ibrutinib be tested broadly in patients with lymphoma and also in other hematologic malignancies and solid tumors.
Electron crystallography of ultrathin 3D protein crystals: Atomic model with charges
Authors: Yonekura Koji , Kato Kazuyuki , Ogasawara Mitsuo , Tomita Masahiro , Toyoshima Chikashi
Published: February 2015

Significance

Electron crystallography has the potential to analyze crystals of membrane proteins and macromolecular complexes too small or too thin for X-ray crystallography, as electrons are scattered four to five orders of magnitude more strongly than X-rays. Electron crystallography yields Coulomb potential maps, rather than electron density maps as X-rays do, providing information on charged states of amino acids and metals. Here we present such Coulomb potential maps at 3.4-Å and 3.2-Å resolution, respectively, of Ca
2+
-ATPase and catalase obtained from crystals of just a few layers thick. These maps demonstrate that it is indeed possible to build atomic models from such crystals and charge information is included, often critical in understanding protein function.
Dissecting the role of the γ-subunit in the rotary–chemical coupling and torque generation of F
1
-ATPase
Authors: Mukherjee Shayantani , Warshel Arieh
Published: February 2015

Significance

Understanding the molecular basis of energy conversion in F
1
-ATPase is of fundamental importance and requires a clear structure-based description of the system with particular emphasis on the conversion of ATP chemical energy to mechanical torque. Here we used our coarse-grained model of F
1
-ATPase and generated a structure-based rotary–chemical landscape that reproduced the observed torque for the wild-type enzyme without using phenomenological parameters. In doing so, we discovered the principles that determine whether free energy surfaces of specific shapes can lead to torque generation. Furthermore, by calculating the torque in several types of γ-deletion systems, we gained major insights into the molecular nature of the F
1
-ATPase rotary motor and established that electrostatics are important in generating the rotary–chemical coupling.
Protein mutated in paroxysmal dyskinesia interacts with the active zone protein RIM and suppresses synaptic vesicle exocytosis
Authors: Shen Yiguo , Ge Woo-Ping , Li Yulong , Hirano Arisa , Lee Hsien-Yang , Rohlmann Astrid , Missler Markus , Tsien Richard W. , Jan Lily Yeh , Fu Ying-Hui , Ptáček Louis J.
Published: February 2015

Significance

Paroxysmal nonkinesigenic dyskinesia (PNKD) is an autosomal dominant episodic movement disorder precipitated by coffee, alcohol, and stress. Here, we show that PNKD interacts with synaptic active zone proteins Rab3-interacting molecule (RIM)1 and RIM2, localizes to synapses, and modulates neurotransmitter release. PNKD knockout mice have impaired synaptic transmission and short-term plasticity.
Integrity of the yeast mitochondrial genome, but not its distribution and inheritance, relies on mitochondrial fission and fusion
Authors: Osman Christof , Noriega Thomas R. , Okreglak Voytek , Fung Jennifer C. , Walter Peter
Published: February 2015

Significance

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) encodes essential subunits of respiratory complexes, which are responsible for the generation of ATP through oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria. Copies of mtDNA are distributed throughout the mitochondrial network and are faithfully inherited during the cell cycle. We have developed a novel tool in
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
that allows us to watch mtDNA dynamics in living cells and to characterize its distribution and inheritance. We show that, surprisingly, mitochondrial fusion and fission are dispensable for both processes. The absence of fusion and fission events, however, leads to the accumulation of rearranged and dysfunctional mitochondrial genomes. These results reveal crucial roles of mitochondrial fusion and fission in maintaining the quality and integrity of the mitochondrial genome.
Texas Czech folk music and ethnic identity
Authors: Dutkova-Cope Lida
Published: February 2015

Drawing on ethnolinguistic fieldwork in the historically Czech Moravian communities of Central Texas, this article explores an intersection between the Texas Czech folk music tradition and the ‘idea’ of language projected into and reflective of the shifting definitions and historically motivated perceptions of ‘Czechness’ and ‘Moravianness’ among the second-to-fourth generation descendants of immigrants from the Moravian region of 19th century Austro-Hungarian Empire (presently a part of the Czech Republic). The cross-fertilization of the ancestral musical tradition with Texas country and western music reflects the process of ethnic redefinition among the generations of Texas Czechs. Where considerable assimilation of the Texas Czech community has eroded once distinct ethnic boundaries, and where the Texas Czech linguistic variety has lost its ground in day-to-day interactions, cultural performances of Texas Czech polka bands help reenact symbolic boundaries of the Texas Czech community in the minds of performers and their audiences and create an environment conducive to heritage language use. Texas Czech folk music thus continues to function as an effective manifestation of the Texas Czech ethnic identity.
Lands i came to sing
Authors: Pagliai Valentina
Published: February 2015

This article on a genre of Tuscan Italian verbal art, theContrasta,uses performance as a key to look at the connections between ethnic identity and place. TheContrastatakes its name, “contrast”, from its humorous representation of a verbal duel among entities, people or ideas. Structurally, it is formed by a series of chained Octets, in hendecasyllables. After an initial discussion of the current definitions of ethnic identity, the article is articulated in two parts. First, through the analysis of the “openings” of severalContrasti,1 will show how a “repertoire” of ethnic identities becomes evident in the way the artists choose to represent themselves across contexts. These identities are connected to place. They are instead connected to towns, villages, valleys and mountains, monuments and historical events and legends. Tuscan ethnic identities emerge in the dialogue between the poets and their public. In the second part of the article, the in depth analysis of aContrastafurnishes a key to understand how performance names and defines, but also contests, definitions of places and the associated identities. Performance brings to view the layers of complexity of ethnic identity, warning us against fixing and simplifying descriptions of it.
Are transcripts reproducible?
Authors: O’Connell Daniel C. , Kowal Sabine
Published: February 2015

The research reported here is part of a larger psycholinguistic project on transcribing and the use of transcripts. It is hypothesized that reproducing transcripts originally prepared on the basis of current transcription systems overloads the capability of those who carry out transcript reproduction and therefore occasions an excessive error rate. Ten reproduced transcripts were taken from (a) three current textbooks (Duranti 1997; Garman 1990; Whitney 1998), and from (b) an earlier textbook (Levinson 1983); and (c) six versions were taken from a German transcript (Keppler 1987). Additions, deletions, substitutions, and relocations of notations were identified according to five categories: Verbal, prosodie, paralinguistic, extralinguistic, and format components. The hypothesis is supported: The overall rate of change is 6.6 syllables per change (2032/308) across all 41 comparisons. Factors underlying this excessive amount of change are discussed. The proposal is made that only those notations be made which are to be used for analyses in keeping with the purposes of the research in question.
Figuration, lexis and cultural resonance
Authors: Charteris-Black Jonathan
Published: February 2015

This paper is a corpus based study of the cultural meaning of figuration in the Malay lexicon. Initially, polysemy is examined for evidence of figurative conceptualisation at the single word level for two body part terms,mata‘the eye’ andkaki‘the foot /leg’. Compound forms are then examined to identify the extent to which similar conceptualisations are found. Finally, figurative phraseological units(simpulan bahasd)are examined for figurative conceptualisations. We consider the relationship between figurative meaning at the phraseological and lexical levels. The identification of figurative language is made with reference to dictionaries and its saliency is gauged with reference to a corpus of contemporary Malay.
Disagreements in television discussions
Authors: Georgakopoulou Alexandra , Patrona Marianna
Published: February 2015

Based on a case study, this paper explores the interaction between the act of disagreeing and the contextual parameters of Greek television panel discussions. The analysis of the data reveals that, in contrast to previous literature on disagreements in TV interview situations, the disagreements at hand are both (host)-unmediated and rendered less dispreferred by being delayed, indirectly posed, and/or mitigated. The discussion sheds light on the systematic ways in which the above is sequentially achieved so as to suit the parameters of the given context. It is argued that the preference features that accompany disagreements attend to the specialized floor-holding and turn-taking rights as well as to the public occasion of the interactions. As such, they index the participants’ management and negotiation of their roles and identities as interviewees, interlocutors, and public speakers.
The particle baš in contemporary Serbian
Authors: Mišković-Luković Mirjana
Published: February 2015

The paper is a relevance-theoretic account of the meaning of the Serbian particle baš, once a content word, now a pragmatic particle restricted to informal discourse. It is argued that the emphatic and specificatory senses of baš can be subsumed under a single description of the particle as a marker of non-loose use. The argumentation is based on the relevance-theoretic distinction between description and interpretation in language use and on the notion of loose talk. The main issue of how the particle contributes to the relevance of its host-utterance is anchored in a tripartite distinction: Conceptual/procedural, truth-functional/non-truth-functional, explicature/implicature. It is claimed that the particle baš is a procedural, non-truth-functional linguistic item that contributes to relevance by constraining the explicit content of the host-utterance.
Displays of concession in university faculty meetings
Authors: Saft Scott
Published: February 2015

In light of the tendency in studies of Japanese discourse and communication to account for patterns of social interaction in terms of cultural concepts such as wa (“harmony”), omoiyari (“empathy”), and enryo (“restraint”), this report sets out to demonstrate how much of an endogenously produced, local achievement social interaction can be in Japanese. To do so, the techniques and principles of conversation analysis are employed to describe how a particular social action, the expression of concession to statements of opposition, is produced by participants in a set of Japanese university faculty meetings. Although it is suggested that the very direct and explicit design of the concession displays could be explained in terms of concepts such as wa and/or enryo, it is nonetheless argued that the interactional significance of this action can be best understood by undertaking a detailed, sequential analysis of the interaction. The analysis itself is divided into two parts: First it is demonstrated that the concessions are products of the participants’ close attendance to and monitoring of the details of the unfolding interaction; second it is shown that instead of turning to pre-determined cultural concepts to account for the trajectory of the interaction, it is possible to understand the concession displays by situating them within the flow of the interaction itself.
The rhetoric of the extraordinary moment
Authors: Lakoff Robin T.
Published: February 2015

The speeches delivered by Al Gore and George W. Bush at the conclusion of the contested 2000 U.S. presidential campaign are of especial interest because they represent a type of political speech that is virtually unique and, because the speakers and their staffs had no previous models to fall back upon, as spontaneous as political utterance currently gets. This paper analyzes those speeches, focusing on the relationships between their forms and what their speakers feel they have to do, and finds interesting similarities as well as differences, in style and content, between them.
A contrastive study of conventional indirectness in Spanish
Authors: Márquez Reiter Rosina
Published: February 2015

This article examines the results of a contrastive empirical study of conventional indirect requests in Peninsular and Uruguayan Spanish. The results reveal pragmatic similarities at the level of the linguistic encoding of utterances with both, Peninsular and Uruguayan Spanish speakers showing a negative correlation between (in)directness and social distance. The less familiar the interlocutors are with each other, the more likely it is for their requests to be realised indirectly. On the other hand, pragmatic differences were found in the tentativeness conveyed by the requests in these two language varieties. Uruguayan Spanish requests were more tentative than those in Peninsular Spanish. This tentativeness was achieved through a more frequent and more varied use of external modifications and a much higher incidence of internal modificating devices of the downgrading type.
On relative clauses and locative expressions in English existential sentences
Authors: Breivik Leiv Egil
Published: February 2015

In an influential paper, Fox & Thompson (1990) argue that the grammar of relative clauses in spoken American English is affected by interactive and cognitive factors pertaining to the communication situation. Existential sentences containing a relative clause as well as an overt locative expression figure prominently in their analysis. The present paper examines Fox & Thompson’s analysis of such sentences in the light of a wide range of data. It is shown that the generalizations they make on the basis of their limited corpus (25 tokens) rest on false premises. Their analysis fails to take account of some of the most salient properties inherent in existential sentences in all varieties of English; it also disregards relevant cross-linguistic data. An alternative analysis is offered.
Fearful, forceful agents of the law
Authors: McElhinny Bonnie
Published: February 2015

Sociolinguists and linguistic anthropologists have been far more likely to use ideology to understand the social relations of nation, racialized ethnicity and class than to understand the social relations of gender. This chapter investigates language ideologies and gender by examining narratives told by male and female, Black and White police officers in Pittsburgh about moments when they found it necessary to use physical force. Many of the workers in this traditionally working-class, masculine job describe themselves as “acting crazy” to instill fear and respect in those with whom they interact. “Acting crazy” is an ideology of interaction of personhood which describes and prescribes a way of acting like and unlike people “on the street” as well as a way of claiming and denying responsibility for action. A detailed analysis of reason adverbs and adverbials and agentive and non-agentive semantic roles shows that police officers construe themselves not as particularly powerful agents but instead as hapless victims, and as adopting a mask of anger, rather than being intrinsically angry people. The analysis of these narratives has implications for understanding whether and how the integration of women into a traditionally masculine occupation like policing leads to the reinscription or transformation of certain ideologies about how interaction should proceed. Such analysis also suggests that to understand how ideology works we need to consider not only how different genres make meaning but how they make meaning stick, and that more careful analysis of how narratives work and how structures of feeling are experienced and inscribed will be crucial for this project.
Language ideologies in Barbados
Authors: Fenigsen Janina
Published: February 2015

Barbadian ways of speaking draw their stylistic richness from intertwined and differentially valued resources of Creole (Bajan) and Barbadian English. Barbadians (and linguists) interpret this formal diversity through two ideological paradigms. One (labeled in Bajan, “adjusting to suit”) corresponds to linguist’s “register”. By attending to laminations of individual repertoires and to skills of their selective contextual deployment, the paradigm indexes the richness of speakers’ resources. The other paradigm interprets the stylistic diversity of speakers’ repertoires in essentializing, “sociolectal” terms that iconically link social categories and polarized language varieties. By exaggerating the distinctiveness of language varieties and by turning them into unambiguous indices of fixed social personae, the paradigm colludes with the hierarchies of linguistic and social prestige. These paradigms and hierarchies can be approached in terms of historical processes that defined their social and linguistic targets. Such a framework, however, neglects institutional sites pivotal in the continued production of cultural orders of language - the literature, media, and theater. Within these sites, characterized by hightened metadiscursive awareness, ideological tensions surrounding language and its couplings with social, racial, and national identities are scripted and launched into public domain. Macrohistorical explanations also neglect the processes that turn specific linguistic forms into emblems of Barbadian language varieties while erasing others. By considering strategies and practices of (re)allocation of linguistic styles to characters in literature, journalism, and theater, I explore sociocultural and semiotic underpinnings of drawing Creole and Barbadian English forms into production of linguistically marked social identities and socially marked language varieties.
The politics of Mayan linguistics in Guatemala
Authors: French Brigittine M.
Published: February 2015

In this essay I examine the emergence and transformation of linguistic analysis as an authoritative field of knowledge in the context of competing nationalists agendas in Guatemala. I show how various social actors including missionary linguists, North American secular linguists, and Maya linguists are implicated in the struggle for authority in “science of language.” I argue that in these intellectual and political struggles, the awareness and participation of the “native speaker” is central to the efficacy of such analytic work and its corresponding projects of national inclusion and exclusion.
Asian American stereotypes as circulating resource
Authors: Reyes Angela
Published: February 2015

Drawing on theories and methods in linguistic anthropology, this paper examines the ways in which circulating stereotypes of Asian Americans emerge as resources in conversations among Asian Americans. Specifically, this paper analyzes two video-recorded interactions at a videomaking project in Philadelphia’s Chinatown to trace how Asian American teen participants invoke Asian American stereotypes, orient to them in various ways, and reappropriate them to: 1) position the self and other relative to stereotypes; 2) construct stereotyping as an oppressive practice to resist or as an interactional resource to celebrate; and 3) bring about interactional effects from widely circulating stereotypes (e.g., Asian storeowner) that are different from those from locally circulating typifications (e.g., Asian minivan driver), what I call widespread typifications and local typifications, respectively. By interrogating the very notion of stereotype as a performative resource, this paper illustrates how Asian American stereotypes can be creatively reappropriated by Asian American teens to accomplish meaningful social actions.
Hillary Clinton’s laughter in media interviews
Authors: O’Connell Daniel C. , Kowal Sabine
Published: February 2015

Laughter in dialogue has been researched under the aegis of many different disciplines. The present approach is psycholinguistic, but with some reliance on recent research in phonetics and conversation analysis (CA). A corpus of laughter from four TV and two radio interviews of Hillary Clinton was analyzed by means of the PRAAT software (www.praat.org) for acoustic measurements. All the interviews had taken place in the several weeks immediately following the publication of her memoirs Living history (2003). The results showed that her laughter was concentrated mostly during the speech of the interviewers rather than during her own speech, and in the TV rather than in the radio interviews. The most frequent topic of her laughter concerned her own presidential candidacy rather than the historical contents of her book. The strong punctuation effect (Provine 1993, 2000), i.e., the claim that laughter occurs only during the pauses after phrases and sentences, was not confirmed; instead laughter occurred most frequently as a sort of back channeling on the part of the auditor. Contrary to the claim of Clayman and Heritage (2002) that media interviewers maintain a professional neutralism, interviewers in this corpus manifested their personal perspectives by laughing. These findings are discussed in light of current empirical research and in terms of a theory of perspectivity that conceptualizes laughter both in general and more specifically in media interviews as a nonverbal expression of personal perspective.
Writer’s argumentative attitude
Authors: Pounds Gabrina
Published: February 2015

This article deals with those aspects of language that can be seen to carry out a primarily “interactional function” in that they are used to “establish and maintain social relationships” (Brown and Yule 1983: 2 and 3). Such aspects have been variously referred to as performing an “expressive” (Bühler 1934), “emotive” (Jakobson 1960), “social expressive” (Lyons 1977) or “interpersonal” (Halliday 1994) function or, more recently, as performing the function by which “social roles and relationships are constructed” (White 2002: 2). In this article such aspects are referred to in very general terms as ‘attitudinal’ or as carrying ‘attitudinal meaning’ or expressing ‘attitude’. It is widely accepted that the interaction generated through language has a strong pragmatic dimension, that is, it can hardly be appreciated out of context. This article is particularly concerned with highlighting the significance and the all-pervasive nature of such pragmatic dimension in the case of the interaction engendered between writers and readers through the medium of Letters to the Editor published in the English and Italian print media. The following three questions arise: 1) At which linguistic level can specific attitudinal resources be identified and compared? 2) To what extent may the extra linguistic context play a role in the specific case of Letters to the Editor? 3) Are similar attitudinal resources and strategies used in the English and Italian letters? How may any differences be explained? In order to answer these questions the article firstly explores the nature of attitudinal meaning as outlined in previous studies. The second section focuses on the cultural context in which the letters are produced with particular reference to the role of language, argumentation, the press and the genre Letters to the Editor in England and Italy. The third section deals with the argumentative structure of the letters and the specific attitudinal meanings associated with the various components of such structure. The method of analysis is illustrated through examples from the English corpus. The main findings are presented and a comparison is drawn between the two corpora. The findings are further assessed in the light of the contextual framework set out in the preceding section.
Speech levels, social predicates and pragmatic structure in Balinese
Authors: Arka I Wayan
Published: February 2015

This paper will account for the interaction between syntax and semantics/pragmatics in the speech styles of Balinese. The analysis makes use of an explicit representation that accounts for the co-occurrence restrictions on linguistic expressions which are imposed by social information associated with the speech- level system. It is proposed that social information be treated in terms of social predicates and modelled using LFG-style parallel structures. The social predicates are contained in what is called pragmatic-structure (prag-str). It is demonstrated that this approach can account for the plain as well as the (dis)honouring use of linguistic forms in Balinese.
The pragmatic functions of the recitation of Qur’anic verses by Muslims in their oral genre
Authors: Nazzal Ayman
Published: February 2015

In this study, I set out to investigate the motivations and reasons which induce Muslims to invoke the recitation of Qur’anic verses in their ordinary discourse. Based on the analysis of the data complied, Muslims seem inclined to recite Qur’anic verses for a host of pragmatic functions. These pragmatic functions range from mitigating one’s commitment for carrying out a future action or failing to honor one’s commitment, to avoiding the effects and adverse consequences of one’s actions on others. In addition, the recitation appears to function as a confirmation of the participants’ religious, cultural, and linguistic identities. Furthermore, the findings of this study underlie the multifaceted functions that Muslims attach to and associate with use of Qur’anic verses. Muslims can exonerate themselves from the responsibilities of rejecting directives or turning down offers or avoiding staking the self-image of their recipient particularly when their actions are face-threatening or have undesirable consequences on their recipients. Moreover, the findings of this study reveal that Muslims are inclined to use Qur’anic verses as a rhetorical strategy of indirect persuasion to lend credibility to the claims they wish their prospective audiences to act upon them.
How implicatures make Grice an unordinary ordinary language philosopher
Authors: Lüthi David
Published: February 2015

Since Paul Grice first propounded his ideas surrounding conversation and implicature in 1967, they have had a continuous and tremendous impact on theorizing, and indeed on the design of entire research programmes, in philosophy, but also in many other disciplines, in particular linguistic pragmatics. Much of what builds on Grice’s original suggestions now belongs to the most powerful hypotheses in the respective fields. But while scholars outside philosophy usually acknowledge Grice’s merits for their own areas of interest, they hardly ever pay attention to his original philosophical intentions. These intentions are the central topic of the present paper. Its primary concern is to show how the theory of conversational implicature enabled Grice to adopt a unique theoretical position within 20th century analytic philosophy. In doing so, it also hopes to eliminate a number of widespread misconceptions regarding the explanatory ambitions of Grice’s original theory.
The pragma-ideological implications of using reported speech
Authors: Obiedat Nawaf
Published: February 2015

From a systemic linguistics perspective, this paper investigates, via a corpus discourse analysis of news stories, the news reporters’ purposes and intentions of using direct and/or indirect quotations (henceforth DQs & IQs) in news reporting. By randomly selecting and analysing a number of news stories taken from two leading American and two leading British newspapers, reporting the same two incidents of killing resulting from the al-Aqsa Intifada, this study reveals the following:

1. DQs are used to add some flavour, vividness and a sense of immediacy and authority to the news story that can be manipulated in such a way as to achieve a variety of certain socio-political ends, e.g. to make a mere viewpoint seem authoritative rather than personal (in our case the newsmaker’s).

2. DQs function as a distancing and a disowning device, i.e. absolving the journalist/the news reporter from endorsement of what the source, i.e. the newsmaker, has said.

3. DQs are also used to show that what is reported is an unconvertible fact, despite the fact that a news reporter may take sides by selecting quotations, and may thus exhibit a biased and prejudiced position.

As for the use of IQs, this study also reveals the following:

1. They show the subjective perspective of the news reporter, since he/she merely paraphrases and gives a summary of the content of what has been recorded, written or uttered by the newsmaker.<<<2. They indicate the political bias and prejudice of the news reporter.

3. They sometimes present an ambiguous account of what has been recorded, written or uttered by the newsmaker, since the news reporter only presents an interpretation, as in the cases of free direct & indirect quotations (henceforth FDQs & FIQs).

However, IQs, and to a lesser extent DQs, can also serve the news reporter, by means of manipulating the pragma-linguistic functions of the reporting/projecting verbs, in assessing and evaluating both the socio-political stance and status of the newsmaker, in addition to exposing the political bias of the news reporter him-/herself.
Resistance against being formulated as cultural other
Authors: Fukuda Chie
Published: February 2015

So-called traditional theories in second langauge acquisition (SLA) have been criticized for their neglect to examine interactional, social, and political aspects in language practices. The present study will illustrate exoticization, one of the political phenomena observed in interactions between native-speaker and non-native speaker (NS/NNS). Exoticization is known as a covert power exercise where ‘self’ creates inferior ‘other’ in order to establish and maintain its superiority (Said 1978), which involves identity construction and categorization. Adopting a conversation analysis (CA) approach and utilizing NS-NNS conversations in Japanese, this study will first demonstrate how exoticization is discursively constructed through the development of interactions. Then the study will explore how the NNS participant tries to resist such practices. By so doing, this study will shed light on interactional and ideological aspects of language practices and society as a learning environment. The study will also suggest the necessity for exploring what NNSs face in real L2 societies in order to develop emic perspectives in SLA studies.
From apartheid to incorporation
Authors: Fenigsen Janina
Published: February 2015

This article explores the insights that research on the emergence of ideologies of modernity and recent discussions of commensurability can offer for the understanding of the construction and maintenance of sociolinguistic hierarchies in Barbados. It takes as its focus (1) the ways in which the drawing of the boundaries of language communities has been linked to broader ideological and political economic processes that surround and depend on linguistic stratification and (2) specific, interaction-level ways in which sociolinguistic stratification is enacted today. It argues that the inclusion of Barbados in the colonial project of producing the modern speaker was underpinned by ideologies of modern governance and was predicated on the political need to transform the enslaved population into modern subjects. This inclusion defined new terms of exclusion and engendered in the speakers a reflexive distance from their English voice.
Increments in cross-linguistic perspective
Authors: Ono Tsuyoshi , Couper-Kuhlen Elizabeth
Published: February 2015

A new area of research called Interactional Linguistics highlights linguistic structure in relation to naturally occurring interaction and is characterized by its cross-linguistic orientation. As a contribution to this new area of research, the present volume is a collection of papers with a cross-linguistic focus; they examine what is often called an ‘increment’, a grammatical extension of the already completed unit. In this paper, we briefly discuss frameworks and orientations adopted by these studies, as well as some overall themes and common issues.
Press releases as a hybrid genre
Authors: Catenaccio Paola
Published: February 2015

Press releases are short pieces of writing issued by companies or institutions to communicate newsworthy information to the journalist community on the one hand, and to the general public (indirectly through newspaper reporting, or, increasingly, directly by making press releases available on corporate websites) on the other. While ostensibly informative, press releases also carry an implicitly self-promotional purpose, in so far as the information they contain comes from a source internal to the organization which is the object of the release itself.

This paper explores the generic features of press releases and investigates the way in which they codify the different communicative purposes and multiple receiver roles which distinguish the genre. Drawing on Bhatia’s work on genre (Bhatia 1993, 2004), and building on Jacobs’s preformulating features (Jacobs 1999a), which can be seen as linguistic strategies aimed at achieving the primary and most ostensible purpose of the press release (i.e. getting the story in the news with as little manipulation as possible on the part of journalists), the paper identifies a set of moves and strategies common to the genre, and links them to communicative purposes on the one hand, and to envisioned audiences on the other. It is argued that the press release occupies a hybrid position along the informative-promotional continuum, and that identification of its communicative purpose relies as much on core as on peripheral textual features.
News production theory and practice
Authors: Van Hout Tom , Jacobs Geert
Published: February 2015

This paper considers notions of agency, interaction and power in business news journalism. In the first part, we present a bird’s eye view of news access theory as it is reflected in selected sociological and anthropological literature on the ethnography of news production. Next, we show how these theoretical notions can be applied to the study of press releases and particularly to the linguistic pragmatic analysis of the specific social and textual practices that surround their transformation into news reports. Drawing on selected fieldwork data collected at the business desk of a major Flemish quality newspaper, we present an innovative methodology combining newsroom ethnography and computer-assisted writing process analysis which documents how a reporter discovers a story, introduces it into the newsroom, writes and reflects on it. In doing so, we put the individual journalist’s writing practices center stage, zoom in on the specific ways in which he interacts with sources and conceptualize power in terms of his dependence on press releases. Following Beeman & Peterson (2001), we argue in favor of a view of journalism as ‘interpretive practice’ and of news production as a process of entextualization involving multiple actors who struggle over authority, ownership and control.
Topical and sequential backlinking in a French radio phone-in program
Authors: De Stefani Elwys , Horlacher Anne-Sylvie
Published: February 2015

Drawing on a corpus of French radio phone-in confidential chats, this paper deals with the resources that participants recurrently employ to get back to a prior course of action following age-inquiry sequences. It might be expected that the age sequence occurs predominantly during the initial, opening part of the phone-call, as part of the caller’s identification sequence. Although such occurrences can be found, the age sequence is produced overwhelmingly after the introduction of the reason for call or after a pre- announcement of it. The way in which participants link back to the activity preceding the age sequence is related to the sequential placement of the age sequence as well as to the ‘authorship’ of its initiation and termination. Backlinking turns may therefore be analyzed with respect to their pragmatic effects (as doing restart, continuation, disjunction etc.) and with regard to the syntax and the linguistic units that speakers employ to achieve these effects.
Not so impersonal
Authors: Gelabert-Desnoyer Jaime J.
Published: February 2015

This paper combines quantitative and qualitative analyses in a corpus-based study of how and for what purposes politicians, in the context of the Spanish Parliament, use the impersonal pronoununo‘one’. I begin by contrasting howunois used in parliamentary debate versus non-political language. After reviewing traditional definitions of the semantic range and general behavior of this pronoun, I argue that a more accurate account that the one provided by standard grammars is needed for us to better understand how the peculiar characteristics of a parliament affect intentionality in the use of impersonal pronouns. In particular, it is argued thatunois utilized by politicians to serve principally two purposes: 1) avoidance of bluntness - a means of preserving professional etiquette, and 2) avoidance of self- praise - demonstrative of humility. Both purposes serve the larger objective of preserving professional face.