Journal

Volume 22, Issue 4 (December 31, 2021)

5 articles

• In the Stillness of Mathematical Logic, Is There a Place for Motion?
  by F. Hadi Madjid and John M. Myers
  J. CS. 2021, 22(4), 465-486;
  Abstract The study of mathematical activity proceeds, for example in the study of mathematical cognition, with some vigor but outside of the discipline of mathematics. By bringing within mathematics a key feature of mathemati- cal activity we propose to open up mathematical vistas otherwise blocked. Mathemat... [Read more].
  Abstract The study of mathematical activity proceeds, for example in the study of mathematical cognition, with some vigor but outside of the discipline of mathematics. By bringing within mathematics a key feature of mathemati- cal activity we propose to open up mathematical vistas otherwise blocked. Mathematics depends on formulas and diagrams written on paper, where they sit still. But the still formulas and diagrams are generated by a mind that is not still, but moves and, furthermore, moves unpredictably. In build- ing motion into a basis for mathematics, a puzzle is how to express motion while respecting the stillness of mathematical formulas and diagrams. Our answer comes with a simple core: to express motions like those of a piece on a game board we use pair of still diagrams, one showing “before” the move and the other showing “after,” as in Petri nets. For a mathematical basis, we propose a language of colored marked directed graphs, a specialization of Petri nets. In terms of these marked graphs, we picture mathematical thought as computational activity coupled to an unpredictable environment that serves as a source of insight beyond logic. Including an environment leads to strongly connected directed graphs with live and safe markings that offer a cartoon to distinguish a “mathematician” from a “computer.” The “mathematician” works in an unpredictable envi- ronment, while the computer’s environment is restricted, for example by a programmer. The graphs express a variety of capacities for computation achievable by people, a drastic restriction compared to a Turing machine. We conjecture that the mathematics of moves punctuated by stillness, cou- pled to an unpredictable environment, yields a cartoon of mathematics as a core function of organisms, essential to their problem solving activity, from bacteria on up. [Collapse]
• Language evolution, narrative and the nature of cognition
  by Andrew Feeney, Rachel Edwards
  J. CS. 2021, 22(4), 487-540;
  Abstract This paper supports the hypothesis that the forms that modern language assume are constrained by the need to represent externally, a wholly mind- internal Narrative of Thought. Beginning with an overview of research into the role of narrative in human culture, we go on to trace the trajectory of lan... [Read more].
  Abstract This paper supports the hypothesis that the forms that modern language assume are constrained by the need to represent externally, a wholly mind- internal Narrative of Thought. Beginning with an overview of research into the role of narrative in human culture, we go on to trace the trajectory of language evolution in relation to human cognition. We note the behavioural innovations that occurred less than 2 million years ago and argue that they arose from a greater degree of cooperation than any previous hominin species had displayed, and led to the emergence of intentional communication in the form of protolanguage. However, this stage in hominin cognition was not indicative of a qualitatively distinctive mode of thought, being grounded in subitizing, and that this is reflected in the cultural stasis that characterises the subsequent million years. The evolution of a uniquely human form of cognition, a System 2 type of thinking in Dual Processing Theory, is a more recent event which enabled the creation and retention of narrative structures through the recursive embedding of simple propositions. This new type of thinking and its external representation in linguistic narrative are seen to coevolve with aspects of autobiographical memory, a sense of self, and Theory of Mind. [Collapse]
• Using a Real-time Word-Naming Technique to Trace Bilingual Children’s Vocabulary Development
  by Hyunwoo Kim and Kitaek Kim
  J. CS. 2021, 22(4), 541-566;
  Abstract This study tested the validity of a computer-based picture-naming tool, the HALA task, to measure the effect of bilingual children’s language exposure in their word retrieval skills. We used this task to address an unresolved issue of whether a relative amount of language input is more strongly asso... [Read more].
  Abstract This study tested the validity of a computer-based picture-naming tool, the HALA task, to measure the effect of bilingual children’s language exposure in their word retrieval skills. We used this task to address an unresolved issue of whether a relative amount of language input is more strongly associated with a relative versus an absolute language outcome. We measured a proportion of L2 Korean input that bilinguals speaking Russian or Chinese as an L1 received from four types of input sources using a language background questionnaire. We also assessed their word retrieving accuracy and speed using the HALA task. Results from correlation analyses show that the proportion of L2 over L1 input was more strongly correlated with the production skills measured in relative than absolute terms. Also, the effect of language input manifested more prominently in word retrieval speed than in word naming accuracy. Our findings suggest that the picture-naming task successfully captured the effect of relative amount of language input in bilingual word production when language outcomes were measured in relative rather than absolute terms. We propose the task as a tool for tracing the development of bilingual children’s word production skills. [Collapse]
• Using Metaphors to Explore Iranian Medical Science Students’ Conceptions of Learning English
  by Iman Alizadeh and Azar Darvishpour
  J. CS. 2021, 22(4), 567-592;
  Abstract There has been a growing interest in investigating English learners’ and English Language Teaching (ELT) students’ metaphors of different aspects of teaching and/or learning English. This study aimed to employ metaphor analysis to discover medical sciences students’ conceptions of learning the Engli... [Read more].
  Abstract There has been a growing interest in investigating English learners’ and English Language Teaching (ELT) students’ metaphors of different aspects of teaching and/or learning English. This study aimed to employ metaphor analysis to discover medical sciences students’ conceptions of learning the English language that is part of the formal education at Iranian medical sciences universities. To achieve the objective of the study, a qualitative study design was used, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 medical sciences students to collect data. Conventional content analysis was used to analyze the data, which resulted in the extraction of 34 primary codes. The codes were further studied and sorted into six categories of growth and promotion factor, tools and devices, way and place, sweet foods, work and activity, and beautiful manifestations of the universe. Finally, the emerged categories were distilled into the main theme of the study (journey to an unknown world). The nature and type of the students’ metaphors revealed their hidden cognition and mentality of learning English. The study concludes that the students conceive of learning English as an essential, long, and often difficult process of personal experience and academic development. The study has implications for teaching English at medical sciences universities. [Collapse]
• Factivity in Chinese: Factive Verbs vs. Factivity Alternation Verb jide ‘remember’ (중국어의 사실성: 사실성 동사 대 사실성 교체 동사 jide ‘기억하다’)
  by Youjeong Oh and Chungmin Lee
  J. CS. 2021, 22(4), 593-630;
  Abstract In this paper, we explore how factivity-related cognitive attitude verbs in Chinese can be categorized. Verbs such as zhidao ‘know’ and mingbai ‘understand’ are factive verbs in contrast with renwei ‘think’ and yiwei ‘think (wrongly)’, which are non-factive verbs, in Chinese. Surprisingly, jide ‘rem... [Read more].
  Abstract In this paper, we explore how factivity-related cognitive attitude verbs in Chinese can be categorized. Verbs such as zhidao ‘know’ and mingbai ‘understand’ are factive verbs in contrast with renwei ‘think’ and yiwei ‘think (wrongly)’, which are non-factive verbs, in Chinese. Surprisingly, jide ‘remember’ turns out to be factivity-alternating. We consider Chinese in comparison with the English type and the type of Altaic languages which include Korean. It is known that Altaic languages show factivity alternation of such verbs as ‘know,’ ‘remember,’ etc, between factive vs. non-factive (Lee, 1978; 2020), whereas English is regarded as largely a non-alternating language (except in negative or nonveridical contexts). Chinese, on the other hand, rather strictly reveals a typical type of non-alternating language: zhidao ‘know’ is constantly factive and has no non-factive alternant; renwei ‘think’ is typically non-factive. But jide ‘remember’ reveals factivity alternation with factive vs. non-factive readings, with no syntactic differences in embedded complement contents. Some scholars have proposed non-facitve alternants of zhidao and jide, and raised such a view as the so-called ‘factivity variation/shift.’ However, all of the non-factive alternants in their arguments turn out to be usages of modals or the tendency of ‘implicative verbs’ (Karttunen, 1971), which involve volitional modality (their complement subjects are co-referential with their main clause subjects, the verbs being action verbs). [Collapse]