bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Interfaces in Bilingualism
Authors: Montrul Silvina
Published: March 2015

In recent research on bilingualism, explanations and predictions of developmental delays or inability to reach native-like attainment in specific areas of grammatical knowledge have been linked to the architecture of the language faculty. The specific emphasis has been on interfaces between the linguistic system and grammar external components, such as syntax/discourse, or between different modules of grammar, such as syntax/semantics, syntax/morphology or morphology/phonology. In this context, Sorace’s Interfaces Hypothesis has generated a significant deal of research in several bilingual populations and in different languages. This paper provides an overview of the current research and debates on interfaces and points to future directions to address pending critical questions, as well as empirical and methodological challenges.
De elemento léxico a marcador modal de mayor veracidad: Un cambio de verdad
Authors: Hernández José Esteban , Solís Beatriz
Published: March 2015

In the following study, we use a corpus-based approach to undertake a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the discursive uses of verdad and its reduced variants verdá and vedá. The latter differ slightly in function and semantic content from its full variant, which functions either as the subject or as the object of the noun phrase. We show that speakers from Lópezville, Texas use verdad as a marker that increases discursive coherence, and that in this border variety verdad has developed innovative uses to codify modal meaning. As a cohesive element that brackets utterances, verdad is mainly used to assure an interlocutor’s attention; and in its role as a modal element, verdad can further show the attitude of the speaker toward the propositional load. In short, verdad can be used to reiterate that which is affirmed in discourse, where it takes on an assertive function by adding greater certainty to the propositional load. The quantitative analysis showed that verdad increases in frequency of use in hypothetical discourse and with information of a subjective nature. Finally, we traced the way in which verdad evolves from a lexical to a fundamentally discursive-modal element.
“Como no me trago el humo...:” A Corpus-Based Approach to Aspectual Se
Authors: Rivas Javier
Published: March 2015

In Spanish, two-participant verbs of consumption (such as tragar ‘swallow’) may variably occur with the reflexive marker se. This paper provides a quantitative analysis of this variation in a corpus of spoken and written Peninsular Spanish in order to test the hypothesis that the construction with se correlates with High Transitivity (Hopper & Thompson 1980). We operationalize grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic characteristics that are associated with High Transitivity: definiteness and generalizability of the direct object, volitionality of the subject, polarity, tense and verb. Additionally, this study operationalizes person and text type in order to test the extent to which all of these characteristics correlate with the use of the reflexive clitic in Peninsular Spanish. The results show that the presence of se is primarily conditioned by the verb and that the other characteristics contribute to the use of the reflexive in varying degrees, depending on the verb.
The Genesis of Traditional New Mexican Spanish: The Emergence of a Unique Dialect in the Americas
Authors: Sanz Israel , Villa Daniel J.
Published: March 2015

The origin of New World Spanish (NWS) is often identified as an original leveled dialect that arose during the earliest moments of Spanish arrival and then spread throughout the Americas. One common denominator in the available accounts of dialect contact and koinéization in NWS is the fact that such studies usually attempt to encompass its evolution as a single process. Perhaps as a consequence of such analytical approaches, little or no reference is commonly made to the possibility that some areas may have followed highly idiosyncratic sociohistorical paths, causing explanatory difficulties for the single leveled dialect approach. In this article we offer an analysis of the genesis of Traditional New Mexican Spanish that suggests the possibility of a variety of NWS that arose independently of others.
Variation in L2 Spanish: The State of the Discipline
Authors: Geeslin Kimberly L.
Published: March 2015

The field of second language (L2) variation, focusing mostly on English and French, has existed for over 30 years, documenting the effects of linguistic context, social context and individual characteristics on learner language. Research on the L2 acquisition of variation in Spanish has experienced tremendous growth over the past decade and currently includes empirical studies of the acquisition of nearly a dozen variable structures based on data elicited using a variety of measures from a range of language learners. The current paper explores this research, noting where the greatest advances have been made and also where additional research would be beneficial. The paper covers a range of variable structures, including the copula contrast, mood selection, verbal subjects and objects, several markers of tense and aspect and several features of the L2 sound system. The acquisition of these structures is an essential component of gaining sociolinguistic competence in a L2.
Articulatory Phonology and the Task Dynamics Model
Authors: Parrell Benjamin
Published: March 2015

An overview of Articulatory Phonology and a computational model based on this framework are presented. In Articulatory Phonology the basic unit is the articulatory gesture, which both characterizes an articulatory event and functions as the element of phonological contrast. Syllables and larger utterances are hypothesized to be combinations of gestures, which may overlap in time. Gestures are modeled as damped mass-spring systems, each associated with an abstract planning clock that triggers their activation. Timing between gestures is modeled as coupling relationships between these clocks. The Task Dynamics Application (TaDA) is a computational implementation of the hypotheses of Articulatory Phonology, currently available for both English and Spanish and expandable to other languages. Operation of the model is demonstrated. Past uses of the model include predicting reaction time, testing hypotheses generated from examination of experimental articulatory data, and text-to-speech systems. Information is included on how to obtain both TaDA and the Spanish gestural dictionary module.
Cuantificación e intensificación: algunas notas sobre re e ité en el español del Cono Sur
Authors: Kornfeld Laura
Published: March 2015

It is the purpose of this paper to analyze the grammatical behavior of two elements of Southern Cone Spanish described in the relevant literature as affixes: re and ité. Both share a number of morphological, syntactic, and semantic properties. For instance, they may be combined with different categorial classes (adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, verbs, nouns, and sentences) and they receive a similar appreciative meaning (‘very’, ‘much’, ‘certainly’, ‘great’ or ‘true’, depending on the categorial combination). Besides, both are used in informal speech, in the Rio de la Plata Spanish, mainly among the young people (re), and in the Paraguaian Spanish in contact with Guarani (ité). The proposed analysis of these elements follows the lines of Distributed Morphology, intending to reduce both the number of lexical entries and the inventory of formal features in syntax. Additionally, we expect to make a contribution to the general discussion about the concepts of quantification and intensification.
The First Noun Principle and Non-Canonical Structures
Authors: Tight Daniel G.
Published: March 2015

This study investigated how L1 English adults interpret subject-verb-object (SVO), VSO, and VOS sentences in an L2. First- (n = 37), third- (n = 42), and fifthsemester (n = 28) Spanish learners heard 8 sentences of each type and indicated which noun was the subject. A repeated-measures ANOVA revealed significant effects (p < .01) for word order and learner level. Fifth-semester participants consistently responded most correctly, but all levels were more accurate (p < .01) with SVO than both VSO and VOS sentences. First-semester learners also scored higher (p < .01) with VSO than VOS structures. Results suggest early influence of the First Noun Principle, dependence on a verb-centric word-order strategy, and growing awareness of the Spanish object marker.
Explicit and Implicit Methods in Quantitative Analyses of Sociophonetic Variation
Authors: Mack Sara
Published: March 2015

This viewpoint paper provides an overview of explicit and implicit methods in sociophonetic perception studies, illustrates how they can be used to measure the relationship between social factors and phonetic variation, and demonstrates how they can prove useful complements to more traditional sociolinguistic methods. The first section addresses explicit measures and gives an example of an explicit measures task exploring the relationships between phonetic variation and perceptions of speaker sexual orientation, height, age, and social class in Puerto Rican Spanish. Results show that an explicit measures task can provide a window into fine-grained phonetic variation associated with social factors that is not available through traditional impressionistic methods. The second part of the paper provides an overview of implicit measures, including an example of the use of implicit measures in a response time task that quantitatively assesses the relationship between /s/ variation and perceptions of sexual orientation in Puerto Rican Spanish. The paper concludes with a summary of how the results gathered from these types of experiments can further our understanding of theoretical issues in Hispanic Linguistics.
Patterns of Prominence in Swedish Second Language (L2) Speakers and Native (L1) Speakers of Spanish: Spontaneous Dialogue versus Read Text
Authors: Aronsson Berit
Published: March 2015

This study aims to describe and analyze prosodic differences in prominence realization in both spontaneous and read speech produced by Swedish second language speakers (L2 speakers) in comparison with native speakers (L1 speakers) of Spanish. A further aim of the study is to provide concrete descriptions of the differences between L2 and L1 prominence realization that may serve as tools for language teachers. Phonetic, phonological and to some extent pragmatic aspects will be considered. Results show that the F0 (fundamental frequency) rises in prominent words are steeper and faster in native speech than in L2 speech. Results also show that stressed vowels have longer duration in prominent words in L2 than in L1 Spanish. The number of boundary rises used by both groups differed significantly according to task and group. Pragmatic aspects, such as the use of different intersubjectivity seeking strategies, might explain differences found exclusively in the spontaneous task.
Palatal East Meets Velar West: Dialect Contact and Phonological Accommodation in Judeo-Spanish
Authors: Romero Rey
Published: March 2015

A key phonological divergence between the varieties of Spanish in Latin America and Spain (labeled here as Western Spanish) and the Judeo-Spanish varieties spoken in the Ottoman Empire and Eastern Mediterranean is the preservation in the latter dialects of the Old Spanish palatals [ʃ], [ʒ], and [dʒ]. In Western Spanish, these palatals evolved into the velar [x]. Increased dialectal contact between these two communities, globalization, immigration, and socioeconomic incentives have resulted in the replacement of [ʃ], [ʒ], and [dʒ] with [x] among the Judeo-Spanish community in Istanbul. I demonstrate that accommodation to [x] can be best described as lexical borrowing, as it only occurs in those palatals that have a [x] equivalent in Western Spanish and in some lexical items more than others. I also analyze the language attitudes and modern sources of dialectal contact that motivate the accommodation to Western Spanish forms in the Judeo-Spanish community in Istanbul.
On the Locative Reading of Dimensional Adjectives and the Internal Syntax of Estar
Authors: Fábregas Antonio
Published: March 2015

In this article, we analyze a previously undescribed copulative construction with estar: one where the predicate, a dimensional adjective, denotes properties of the location occupied by the clause subject, as in La bandera está alta ‘The flag is placed in a high position.’ We show that this construction provides direct evidence for the analysis of estar as a morphophonological exponent that lexicalizes a copulative verb and a preposition, as proposed in Uriagereka (2001) and Gallego & Uriagereka (2009). We also show that the structure required to account for the locative reading of dimensional adjectives can be used to characterize the other readings where estar, as a copulative verb, is involved.
Contextual Variation in L2 Spanish: Voicing Assimilation in Advanced Learner Speech
Authors: Schmidt Lauren B.
Published: March 2015

The present study examines whether, and to what degree, regressive voicing assimilation of Spanish /s/ (as in rasgo/rasgo/ [ˈraz.ɣ̞ o]) occurs in the speech of advanced second language (L2) learners of Spanish. Acoustic analyses of L2 productions of /s/ in the voicing context (preceding a voiced consonant) and in the non-voicing context (preceding a voiceless consonant) elicited from a contextualized picture-description task revealed a contextual voicing effect in the speech of only a limited number of the advanced L2 speakers. The low occurrence of the assimilation process even amongst the advanced learners may be attributed in part to the variable nature of voicing in the input and to the complexity of the process (i.e. subject to different stylistic, linguistic, and social factors). The study also provides a phonetic description of the variants of L2 Spanish /s/ and finds that when voicing does occur, it is phonetically similar to native Spanish voicing in terms of the phonetic contexts in which voicing occurs, patterns of durational differences of /s/ according to voicing, and the variable nature of its occurrence.
The Emergence of Future Verbal Morphology in Spanish as a Foreign Language
Authors: Solon Megan , Kanwit Matthew
Published: March 2015

The present study adopts a concept-oriented approach to explore the early stages of acquisition of future-time reference in second language (L2) Spanish. Specifically, it investigates the lexical and grammatical forms employed to express future time and the sequence of emergence of future verbal morphology by beginning and intermediate adult Spanish as a foreign language learners.

The participants were 104 native English-speaking learners of Spanish from five levels of course enrollment. Participants completed an oral conversation task and a letter-writing task designed to elicit reference to future time. Contexts of future time were identified and coded for the verbal morphology employed. Additionally, data from speakers who employed either only morphological or only periphrastic future forms in addition to base or present indicative forms were examined more closely in terms of variables such as modality, temporal distance, clause type, (un)certainty of the event, and person and number, in order to investigate initial form-meaning mappings.

Results suggest that the periphrastic future appears before the morphological future and that, when it appears, future verbal morphology is used most often in written language and to refer to contexts at a temporal distance greater than one day. These cross-sectional data provide evidence as to the emergence of future-time reference in L2 Spanish, demonstrate differential patterns of use according to proficiency level, indicate modality-based variation, show differences rooted in lexical verb types, and, ultimately, add to our knowledge of early form-meaning mappings in the acquisition of Spanish as a L2.
La nueva frontera: Spanish-Speaking Populations in Central Washington
Authors: Villa Daniel J. , Lapidus Shin Naomi , Robles Nagata Eva
Published: March 2015

Washington State, demographically speaking, represents the northernmost boundary, la nueva frontera, of what might now be called the Spanish speaking West. Previously, Spanish speakers in the West were concentrated mostly in the Southwest. However, in recent years the Hispanic population of the U.S. has steadily grown, with the result that it forms the largest minority group in the nation, extending into areas that traditionally have not had significant Hispanic communities, including the Pacific Northwest. Little research to date has been carried out on the Spanish-speaking Hispanic populations in that region, particularly in interior Washington. This article seeks to begin to fill that research lacuna. Analyses of U.S. Census data, as well as sociolinguistic interviews with Washington Hispanics, indicate that what used to be the Spanish-speaking Southwest can now be subsumed under the broader ‘Spanish-speaking West,’ with Washington at its northernmost border.
Sp_ToBI and the Phonological Analysis of Spanish Intonation: A Critical Perspective
Authors: Face Timothy L.
Published: March 2015

A Spanish version of the Tones and Break Indices framework for the phonological analysis of intonation, Sp_ToBI, has existed, in one level of development or another, for over a decade. The early, preliminary system was incomplete, but since, the system has been revised and expanded to the point of being a fully developed analytical tool. With recent work, Sp_ToBI has come into its own and now has a significant place in research on Spanish intonational phonology, especially given the considerable amount of research that has applied it to a wide range of Spanish varieties. As a system that is explicitly designed to be pan-Spanish, such research is crucial. After outlining the development of Sp_ToBI, this paper considers both the benefits and the challenges of the pan-Spanish nature of Sp_ToBI. Additionally, the contributions that Sp_ToBI has made to the phonological analysis of Spanish intonation are considered, as are the general challenges it faces. The paper concludes with a look at the future of Sp_ToBI as a tool for intonational phonologists.
A Certain Future: Epistemicity, Prediction, and Assertion in Iberian Spanish Future Expression
Authors: Aaron Jessi E.
Published: March 2015

The choice of future construction in Romance languages with variable expression is complex, and several factors have been shown or hypothesized to influence this choice (e.g. Aaron 2006, 2010 and Poplack & Malvar 2007). One factor stands out time and time again, though scholars do not always associate it with the same form: certainty. Using corpus-based quantitative methods, the role of certainty in Iberian Spanish future form variation is examined. The semantics of futurity and epistemic modality are discussed, with particular reference to the Spanish synthetic, or morphological, future. Then, the onset of non-future-reference use of the Synthetic Future as an epistemic marker is described, and viewed in light of the role of epistemicity in the possible strengthening of the semantics of “certainty” with the Spanish Periphrastic Future. Finally, diachronic evidence from distributional patterns in grammatical person, verb class and clause type is presented, which suggests that speakers associate the periphrastic construction with “certainty” and, increasingly, the synthetic construction with “uncertainty.” It is suggested that functional competition with innovative forms can breathe new life into older forms, sparking further grammaticalization.
Structural ambiguity in the Georgian verbal noun
Authors: Ciaramella Eric
Published: March 2015

In this paper, we propose that the verbal noun in Georgian is structurally ambiguous, with a more verbal instantiation (V-VN) and a more nominal instantiation (N-VN). We argue for the ambiguity hypothesis on the basis of syntactic diagnostics that target how the two instantiations of the verbal noun crucially diverge from one another. After demonstrating that the ambiguity hypothesis is indeed motivated by the data, we propose that the distinction between V-VNs and N-VNs in Georgian helps us to distinguish between more proposition-like and more event-like readings of verbal noun phrases. We then argue from a theoretical standpoint that the N-VN is a lexically derived nominal, whereas the V-VN in its behavior approaches what might be called an “infinitive” in modern Georgian.
Two sets of Georgian person markers as the expression of the opposition active/inactive
Authors: Melikishvili† Irine
Published: March 2015

The marking of arguments is semantically oriented in Georgian. The basic concept of the argument marking is the activity hierarchy of the arguments. The opposition active/inactive underlies the distinction of the two patterns of Georgian person markers and governs all specific rules of the distribution of their allomorphs. Syntactic function plays almost no role in the morphological marking of arguments. Three TAM Series of Georgian verb system distinguish different types of argument marking. The problem of the diachronic relationship between the constructions of different Series is discussed in the paper from the viewpoint of the theory of markedness and the hierarchy of the parts of the clause.
The former and the future temple of YHW in Elephantine: a traditio-historical case study of ancient Near Eastern antiquarianism
Authors: Granerød Gard
Published: March 2015

Die Elephantine Papyri spiegeln keine Kenntnis der Bibel. In diesem Artikel wird die These vertreten, das die Elephantine-Papyri von eine religiöse Tradition bezeugen, die in der Gemeinschaft von Elephantine am Ende des 5. Jh.s v. Chr. lebendig war: die Tradition über den früheren Tempel JHWHs in Elephantine, d. h. den Tempel, der zum Ende des 5. Jh.s v. Chr. zerstört worden war und den die Juden versuchten wieder aufzubauen. Die Papyri ermöglichen es uns, verschiedene Stadien der Überlieferung (

The Elephantine papyri do not reflect knowledge of the Bible. Here, however, it is argued that the Elephantine papyri attest to a religious tradition that was alive within the Elephantine community at the end of the 5th c. BCE:

Les papyri d’Eléphantine ne reflètent pas de connaissance de la Bible. Cet article émet la thèse que les papyri d’Eléphantine sont les témoins d’une tradition religieuse vivante dans la communauté d’Eléphantine à la fin du 5
Targeting unfolded protein response in cancer and diabetes
Authors: Mkrtchian Souren
Published: March 2015

The maturation of secretory and membrane proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is tightly regulated by the unfolded protein response (UPR), a signal transduction pathway maintaining ER protein folding homeostasis. However, certain ER states are incompatible with cell survival and therefore the UPR may choose to eliminate severely disrupted cells by apoptosis. This is accomplished primarily through the activation of the transcription factor CCAAT-enhancer-binding protein homologous protein (CHOP). In the April 2015 issue of Endocrine-Related Cancer, researchers from the universities of South Carolina and Athens (Greece) suggested a novel mechanism of CHOP-mediated apoptosis connected with the suppression of a prominent cell cycle regulator with anti-apoptotic activity, p21. These findings and suggested clinical applications, such as potentiation of cancer chemotherapy and a novel therapeutic approach for type 2 diabetes, are discussed in the context of UPR.
FSH receptor-specific residues L501 and I505 in extracellular loop 2 are essential for its function
Authors: Banerjee Antara A , Dupakuntla Madhavi , Pathak Bhakti R , Mahale Smita D
Published: March 2015

The extracellular loop 2 (EL2) of FSH receptor (FSHR) plays a pivotal role in various events downstream of FSH stimulation. Because swapping the six FSHR-specific residues in EL2 (chimeric EL2M) with those from LH/choriogonadotropin receptor resulted in impaired internalization of FSH–FSHR complex and low FSH-induced cAMP production, six substitution mutants of EL2 were generated to ascertain the contribution of individual amino acids to the effects shown by chimeric EL2M. Results revealed that L501F mainly and I505V to a lesser extent contribute to the diminished receptor function in chimeric EL2M. HEK293 cells stably expressing WT and chimeric EL2M FSHR were generated to track the fate of the receptors post FSH induction. The chimeric EL2M FSHR stable clone showed weak internalization and cAMP response similar to transiently transfected cells. Furthermore, reduced FSH-induced ERK phosphorylation was also observed. The interaction of activated chimeric EL2M and L501F FSHR with β-arrestins was weak compared with WT FSHR, thus explaining the impaired internalization of chimeric EL2M and corroborating the indispensable role of EL2 in receptor function.
Narrated Photography
Authors: Dunlop Sarah , Ward Peter
Published: March 2015

This article describes how a recently refined visual ethnographic research method, “narrated photography,” contributes to the study of religion. We argue that this qualitative research method is particularly useful for studies of lived religion and demonstrate this through examples drawn from a study the sacred among young Polish migrants to England. Narrated photography, which entails asking people to photograph what is personally significant to them and then to narrate the image, generates visual and textual material that mediates the subjective. Through using this method we discovered that family was considered to be sacred, both in terms of links to religious practice and a desire for a secure home which family relationships provide. Additionally, narrated photography has the potential to expand our conceptions of lived religion through the inclusion of visual material culture and the visual context of the research participants. In this case the data revealed that the Polish young people view structures within their landscape through a particularly Polish Catholic lens. These findings shed light on the religious tensions that migrants encounter in everyday life.
biosocial basis of collective effervescence
Authors: Xygalatas Dimitris
Published: March 2015

Collective rituals have long been assumed to play a role in increasing social assimilation and forging emotional bonds between group members. Émile Durkheim described a feeling of belonging and emotional alignment produced by ritual participation, which he called “collective effervescence”. Although this notion has informed generations of anthropologists, it has been notoriously difficult to quantify, while little is known about the physiological mechanisms underlying this effect. In a recent field study, we used physiological measurements alongside traditional ethnographic methods to operationalize and quantify this notion. I discuss the implications of these findings and the use of laboratory methods in field research.
Educational Choices in Senegal
Authors: Smith Gina
Published: March 2015

The case study is rooted in an old interest in the Qur’anic education. It examines the values attached to education in a village where a state school challenges the established educational culture of the Sufi shaykh and of the parents. West African Senegal has a history of educational conflicts, partly as a result of being a mosaic of ethnic groups, Christian and Muslim religions and cultures, French colonization and Western cultural input. Relating all this to the narratives, information and observations presented to the author in the village, the article looks into the position of the classical Islamic Education in the village and reflects on the position of Islamic education in Senegalese educational politics.
The Implicit Religion of Organs
Authors: Macdonald Arlene
Published: March 2015

Religion is not absent from the study of organ transplant. However, it is the formal, explicit components of religion that are attended to. This paper argues the concept of implicit religion more aptly describes and evaluates the language, rituals and symbols that pervade recipient narratives, transplant communities and broader public discourse about organ exchange. Drawing on ethnographic research with transplant recipients and other transplant populations, the paper endeavours to show how this hermeneutic tool illuminates both the individual and collective dimensions of transplant. An implicit religion of organs is evident in the transformations that transplant recipients attest to. An implicit religion of organs also underwrites contemporary understandings of death and immortality. And, finally, an implicit religion of organs is deployed in civil ceremonies designed to solidify, engage and envision the republic.
Faith, Facts and Fidelity
Authors: Johnson Stephen
Published: March 2015

Response in the light of John Hey’s, ‘Religious Identity: In Praise of the Anonymity of Critical Believing’, in Implicit Religion, Volume 9, No. 1, April 2006.

Reinhold’s younger brother H. Richard Niebuhr ‘made his bones’ with 1920s and 1930s books and articles that scathingly exposed American Protestantism’s exceptional role in creating ‘the gospel of a Christ without a cross’, comfortable for the churches of the middle class. As believing Christian and rigorous theologian, Niebuhr also took quite seriously the challenges to personal faith posed by ‘depth psychology’ and the social sciences in general. Aware that even our finest ideas and deepest feelings are entirely contextualized (‘we are in history as the fish is in water’), he wrestled throughout the 1930s for a ‘critical faith’ so empirically realistic that not even a Freud could persuasively reduce it to wishful thinking. Out of that struggle grew The Meaning of Revelation (1941), which fully anticipated and constructively responded to critical challenges that would half a century later be called post-modern and deconstructive. Sharply expressed in his World War II articles, Niebuhr’s critically confessional understanding of revelation was so stark and powerful that it eventually scared off most of his liberal contemporaries. National and World Council of Churches fellows who owed him so much instead fretted that he ‘no longer believes in the Christian God’. Indeed, his very Protestant understanding of ‘historical faith’ as realistic fidelity led to a ‘radical monotheism’ far more rigorous than Catholic Karl Rahner’s ‘anonymous Christianity’, far more honest than most liberal Protestant church preaching ever since, and far more solidly grounding inter-religious pluralism than some of that dialogue’s leading exponents are yet ready to concede. As Catholic spiritual masters and evangelical Protestants have (differently!) confessed, faith is a saving ‘grace’ given by the Holy Spirit. As postmodernists have insisted, any rendering of such experience (‘born again’ or less dramatic, explicit or implicit) is a human, cultural ‘construction’. Since such experience and constructions are personally and socially common, empowering and dangerous, implicit rediscoveries and explicit developments of Niebuhr’s challenging insights are urgent. As John Hey puts it, ‘critical believing is process-oriented’. Explicit or implicit, however, faith is more about our commitments than about its own nature. Truly postmodern theologians are committed to good faith’s good works. In this, they follow Niebuhr’s example.
On the Links between Perceptions of Desecration and Prejudice toward Religious and Social Groups
Authors: Abu-Raiya Hisham , Pargament Kenneth I. , Mahoney Annette , Trevino Kelly
Published: March 2015

With the introduction of a theory of spirituality, a new line of research has emerged that can facilitate a more in-depth understanding of religion and prejudice. Central to this line of research is the concept of desecration, or perceived violations of what the individual holds sacred. Empirical studies of desecration have consistently shown that appraisals of desecrations predict prejudice even after partialling out traditional religiously-based predictors of prejudice (e.g., fundamentalism, particularism). Studies have also indicated that the impact of desecration on prejudice may be affected by several spiritual coping factors that may mitigate (e.g., compassion, exposure to the core values and teachings of other groups) or exacerbate (e.g., demonizing others, believing others are being punished by God) these effects. Research and theory on spirituality, sanctification, desecration and spiritual coping more generally, can help researchers and society gain a deeper appreciation of how specific religious beliefs and behaviors significantly intensify or ameliorate prejudice towards social subgroups.
Beyond Krishnacore
Authors: Stewart Francis
Published: March 2015

Considering and engaging with spiritual identity and practices, particularly within today’s modern Western societies, often seen as having a religious/secular divide, has rightly been at the fore of much academic consideration of late. For there are a number of newly emerging forms of spirituality (both in terms of practice and of identity) that are in many ways sidestepping that paradigm and creating a new approach to religion, the secular, and spirituality. Research amongst Straight Edge punks has revealed a specifically “post-secular” approach to these concerns and ideas. This is a spiritual identity located firmly within a secular (one could even argue, profane) subculture. Their wilfully syncretic approach to spirituality is deliberately mingled with secular practices and ideas, as they refuse to acknowledge distinctions or borders. This article aims to explore and locate the implicit and explicit approaches to religion and spirituality, both as it is found and practiced within Straight Edge punk and within the wider theoretical concerns of sociology of religion.
“The Parish Must Be Where The People Are”
Authors: Pessi Anne Birgitta
Published: March 2015

During the last decades religiosity in Western countries has both decreased in its public forms and increased in the form of individuals’ interest in spiritual matters. Having a connection with members is challenging, even if crucially central, to all religious communities. This was the aim of the development project of the Olari parish, conducted in the Iso Omena shopping centre in Finland. This article investigates this entire shopping centre project from the perspective of communication: what was the message that the parish wanted to send out to people, and what messages did the people receive? The theoretical framework of the article includes the perspective of communication as a multifaceted and process-natured phenomenon. The data includes 418 interviews. The discussion on the findings includes both theoretical and practical conclusions.
Indian Secularism
Authors: Selvanayagam Israel
Published: March 2015

Books Reviewed:

Secularism’s Last Sigh? Hindutva and the (Mis)Rule of Law by Brenda Cossman and Ratna Kapur. Oxford University Press India, 2001. 212pp., pb., $28.50. ISBN-13: 9780195657982.

Indian Secularism: A Social and Intellectual History, 1870–1950, by Shabnum Tejani. Indiana University Press, 2008. 320pp., 2 maps, pb. $28.00, ISBN-13: 9780253220448; hb. $65.00, ISBN-13: 9780253352569.
On Method
Authors: Schnell Tatjana
Published: March 2015

Implicit Religion can be used as a hermeneutical tool for interpreting reality (IR-as-tool), or it can aim to describe, explain and predict aspects of the social world (IR-as-theory). The second approach demands the formulation of a theory, including a definitional core and related assumptions. IR-as-theory can be evaluated through methodical empirical investigation. In this article, a foundation for empirical research on IR is outlined. A post-empiricist, constructivist epistemological background for doing research on IR is suggested. The need for explication and definition is argued, as is the necessity of anchoring IR in nomological frameworks by determining convergence with and divergence from related concepts. The process of operationalization is described, taking into account different levels (content, structure, function) and units (individual, organizational, institutional, social) of analysis. Finally, the requirement of testability is addressed. To determine a theory’s viability, theoretical claims have to be translated into empirically falsifiable hypotheses. Falsification can indicate biased or erroneous assumptions, whereas accumulation of support for theoretically deduced hypotheses corroborates the viability of the theory. In conclusion, it is proposed that, although initially reducing the complexity of IR, empirical research will enhance the understanding of Implicit Religion, raise valuable new questions, inspire further exploration and suggest constructive applications of the theory of IR.
The Concepts of Implicit and Non-Institutional Religion
Authors: Hamilton Malcolm B.
Published: March 2015

If man is an animal religiosum this suggests that religion is rooted in evolved cognitive and emotional structures of the human brain and mind. Although obviously a cultural system, which takes extraordinarily varied form across different cultures, the application of evolutionary theory and evolutionary psychology to the understanding and explanation of religion, which has become increasingly prevalent in the last decade or so, is potentially a fruitful line of investigation. Rather than religion involving the transcending of our biological nature, as Luckmann argued, this approach would see religion as rooted in that biological nature. There are two rather different stances within evolutionary psychology, namely that which sees religion as a by-product of otherwise adaptive traits, and that which sees religion as itself adaptive, either at the individual or at the social level. These may have rather different implications for the concepts of implicit and non-institutional religion. These concepts might seem to relate more closely to more fundamental cognitive proclivities, rather than to socially adaptive and, consequently, institutionalized forms. The study of implicit and non-institutional forms of religion might thus throw considerable light on such deeply rooted factors. Here a number of fundamental cognitive mechanisms that may be relevant for the concepts of implicit and non-institutionalized religion are briefly examined. From this it is concluded that it may be time to discard a unitary definition of religion as such and concentrate instead on those diverse aspects of what has for so long inevitably defied attempts at coherent definition.
It Isn’t Just about the Money
Authors: Palmisano Stefania , Pannofino Nicola
Published: March 2015

Half-way along the continuum linking religious and secular organizations can be found quasi-religious organizations, an example of hybridization characterized by the concurrence of commercial activity and symbolic practices connected with an implicitly religious dimension. Amway Corporation (a company operating in the direct-selling sector) is a representative example. This article presents the findings of ethnography carried out in Amway’s Italian context. In particular, it dwells on qualitative interviews conducted with sales operatives. From an analysis of the textual corpus, it becomes clear that belonging to the organization implies an experience of identity-transformation analogous to that of religious conversion.
The Association Between Suicidal Ideation, Explicit Religion and Implicit Religion
Authors: Francis Leslie J.
Published: March 2015

In his analysis of the construct “implicit religion” Edward Bailey speaks of those individuals “who believe in Christianity” but who do not display the behaviours of explicit religion, such as church attendance. A recent research tradition has tried to operationalize this understanding of implicit religion by studying those who believe that they can be a Christian without going to church. A longer established research tradition has demonstrated the association between explicit religiosity and a lower level of suicidal ideation. The aim of the present study is to test the hypothesis that implicit religiosity (in the sense of believing that you can be a Christian without going to church) is also associated with a lower level of suicidal ideation. Data provided by a sample of 25,726 13- to 15- year-old adolescents fail to support this hypothesis.
Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You, by Sam Gosling. Basic Books, 2008. 263pp., Pb $14.28. ISBN-13: 9780465027811.
Authors: Doehrman Stephen
Published: March 2015

Book review
Bigger Than Religion
Authors: Deyoung Mark
Published: March 2015

Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann describes prophetic religion as the poetic, counter-imperial acts of an alternative consciousness that empowers marginalized sub-communities standing in tension with the dominant culture. Hip hop culture is argued to constitute an implicit contemporary example of such a subcommunity, both in its origin in African-American culture and in its connection to other marginalized groups throughout the world who have appropriated hip hop culture. After developing hip hop as an implicit paradigm for prophetic religion and distinguishing between prophetic and non-prophetic forms of hip hop, specific examples are given from hip hop lyrics which illustrate prophetic criticisms of dominant religious consciousness while energizing the people in their community to move in an alternative direction. First is the critique of religion as pacification to justify and maintain an oppressive status quo. Second will be the critique of religious exclusivism and the otherworldly concept of heaven and hell, and finally, the critique of religion as institutional and authoritarian. Each of these is complemented by models of empowerment for the disenfranchised, an emphasis on inclusivity which embraces the concrete struggles of real people in the present, and the mobilization of democratic grassroots movements as a source of power and authority.
Body Image and Celebrity Worship
Authors: Aruguetem Mara , Griffith James , Edman Jeanne , Green Thomas , Mccutcheon Lynn
Published: March 2015

We surveyed college students to determine the relationship between body image and celebrity admiration. We administered the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS), the Self-Objectification Questionnaire (SOQ), the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), and a slightly modified version of the (ESS,) to 279 participants from three universities and one college. We hypothesized that, as the tendency to worship celebrities increased, so would self-objectification, enjoyment of sexualization, and eating pathology. We thought that this would be particularly true for women and those whose favorite celebrity was perceived as being physically attractive. Results confirmed that men (but not women) who tend to worship celebrities are more likely to show eating disorders and enjoy being sexualized. Our modified version of the ESS has good reliability, and we showed that men are just as likely to enjoy being sexualized as women are. Further, the correlation between ESS and EAT scores was stronger for men than for women. Implications for the further study of attitudes toward celebrities and the need to include males in research on enjoyment of being sexualized were discussed.
After Secularism
Authors: Collins Mike
Published: March 2015

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The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality edited by Lisa J. Miller. Oxford University Press, 2012. 654pp., pb., £95.00/US$65.00. ISBN-13: 9780199357345
Authors: McCutcheon Lynn E
Published: March 2015

Book review
A Novel Society
Authors: Geraci Robert
Published: March 2015

Science fiction—as a literature of the fantastic—has become a part of the religious landscape of modernity. In a secular world, not all of religious activity is explicitly so; indeed, much contemporary religious thought and practice happens implicitly, in ostensibly secular arenas. Yet the human need for meaning and enchantment has gone undiminished in the age of secularism, and science fiction is a powerful route for such desires. In China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station, we see how traditionally religious themes are woven into a science fiction story, but also how the book itself illustrates a religious goal of divine creation. Using actor-network theory, this essay contributes to the building of a sociology of religion that acknowledges the powerful ways in which science fiction texts like Perdido Street Station offer transformative experiences for readers and for culture.
Time is of the Essence
Authors: Schwartz Susan L.
Published: March 2015

In the academic study of religion, theories about the nature of time reside in the realm of cosmology. They shape and form assumptions about the nature of chronology, sequence, duration, cause and effect. In those beginnings are sown the seeds of endings: both define the parameters of meaning. One of the most fascinating and consistent conceits of the science fiction genre is the nature and manipulation of time. Like religion, science fiction constructs worldviews. To challenge fundamental assumptions regarding of time and space has always been one of science fiction’s most endearing qualities. In South Asian and specifically Hindu cosmology, not only is time circular and cyclical, it is fundamentally illusory. There is a mysterious and delightful congruence between Hindu cosmology and western science fiction in this respect. This article proposes to examine some of the ways in which traditional Hindu concepts of time are represented in western science fiction.
Belonging without Believing
Authors: Francis Leslie J. , Robbins Mandy
Published: March 2015

Data from a survey of nearly 34,000 13–15 year-olds were analysed to examine the social significance of self-identified religious affiliation (belonging) unaccompanied by faith in God (believing). The data support the social significance of ‘belonging without believing’. This significance is discussed in light of the concept of implicit religion.
Karel Dobbelaere, Secularization: An Analysis at Three Levels.
Authors: Possamai Adam
Published: March 2015

Karel Dobbelaere, Secularization: An Analysis at Three Levels. P.I.E.–Peter Lang, Brussels, 2002, pp. 214, ISBN 9052019851
Back through the Front Door
Authors: Ross Joan
Published: March 2015

The author’s Master’s research with newcomers (aged 26 to 70 years) to New Zealand Presbyterian and Uniting Churches, who have returned to church since 2001 or started attending with little background, identified pertinent social contexts of experiences of loss, initiating personal change, supporting family and local community. This study discusses findings on the ambivalent influence of early religious socialisation for adults returning to church; reflections on gender; immigrant returnees in cultural transition; and differential emphases placed by newcomers on belief and belonging. Returnees’ religious backgrounds showed complex patterns of cross-denominational travel, which, it is suggested challenge institutional definitions of membership and beliefs. This study indicates the need for more subtly toned theorising on the relationship between religious belief and belonging, and observed patterns of detachment and re-attachment to Christian churches.
Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the ‘spirit’ of Capitalism (1905): A Centennial Essay
Authors: Bendle Mervyn F.
Published: March 2015

This article explores the publication of Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the ‘spirit’ of Capitalism (hereafter PESC) in 1905. One of the great masterpieces in the study of religion and sociology, Weber’s argument has penetrated deeply into the scholarly and popular culture of the West, proving to be one of the most influential insights into role of religion and the nature of modernity, and an inspiration for a vast amount of academic work, either expanding Weber’s argument or contesting it. In exploring the century-long influence of PESC this article first describes PESC and Weber’s influence, noting some important applications and criticisms. It then explores the background of Weber’s argument in PESC in terms of two factors: (1) the shared interests of a group of talented scholars at a time of unprecedented political crisis in German and European history; and (2) the crisis in Weber’s personal and emotional life. Finally, it turns to a discussion of how Weber’s work on PESC illuminates the inner world of modernity.