Showing papers on "Connotation published in 1997"

Language, Culture and Psychopathology: Conceptual and Methodological Issues

Abstract: In recent years, the World Health Organization has developed scheduled interviews in order to make psychiatric diagnoses that are comparable across languages and cultures. These scheduled interviews include the technician-administered Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) and the psychiatrist-administered Schedule for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN). Work on these interview schedules in numerous languages has demonstrated the importance of lay terminology in eliciting the presence of psychiatric symptoms and in assessing their severity. Lay terminology regarding subjective experiences and perceptions is strongly tied, through language, to cultural values, attitudes, norms, beliefs, and customs. In this review article, we outline critical concepts and methods regarding psychopathology, language, and culture. General concepts relevant to these matters are defined and discussed: e.g. denotation, connotation, various types of equivalence in translated materials, specificity of term...

What Maps Mean to People: Denotation, Connotation, and Geographic Visualization in Land-Use Debates

Abstract: People read meanings into maps that go well beyond the literal identification of the entities and relations represented. In traditional cartography it is generally not possible to represent the diverse connotations people may assign to what is denoted on a map, nor would this be desirable in most map-use contexts. There are however cases, as in conflicts over land use or the management of natural resources, where much of the debate surrounds the connotations assigned by different groups to certain contested entities. At the same time, the GIS-based spatial decision support systems increasingly used in planning debates do in principle offer the possibility of representing connotations significant to the task at hand. This paper explores how such representations could eventually be achieved by building into GIS data models fundamental aspects of experiential space to enrich the standard underlying geometrical representations. The suggested strategy builds upon the image schema concepts of the experiential approach in cognitive linguistics and may be formalized through a universal algebra.

Emotional Connotation in Speech Perception: Semantic Associations in the General Lexicon

Abstract: Lexical access of emotion words has been shown to depend on three underlying dimensions (Evaluation, Activity, and Potency). The importance of these dimensions of emotional connotation was assessed during on-line speech perception of words drawn from the general lexicon. Lexical decision times were significantly predicted by main effects of Evaluation and Potency, as well as by an Evaluation Activity interaction and an Evaluation Potency interaction. An evolutionary account is proposed to explain the differential processing of words in the general and affective lexica. Whereas the affective lexicon seems to be structured to avoid threats to the individual, the general lexicon appears to be designed for obtaining scarce but valuable resources.

Impressions Created by Given Names

Abstract: Desirability is an important factor in assigning and evaluating names. The Name Connotation Profile (NCP) characterizes name desirability by six factors that are implied by names: Success, Morality, Popularity, Warmth, Cheerfulness, and Masculine-Feminine. Representative findings obtained with the Name Connotation Profile differentiate the connotations between, e.g., nicknames versus given names, conventionally versus unconventionally-spelled names, long versus short names, and men's versus women's names. A number of applications of the Name Connotation Profile are noted.

Dialogue: Hermeneutic and practical

Abstract: Hans Georg Gadamer's (1982) hermeneutic is the dominant model for practice in North American practical and pastoral theology, as is evident in the work of three leading theorists in this field, Don Browning (1991), Thomas Groome (1991), and Charles Gerkin (1991). They use Gadamer's hermeneutic dialogue between interpreter and text to understand the dialogue between pastor and parishioner, congregation, or community. In this usage, “dialogue” undergoes shifts in meaning away from its usual denotation and connotation. Critical analysis of these changes reveals the dynamics of power in ecclesial and theological structures.

[Social psychiatry and social aspects of psychiatry--on the historical applications of the concepts].

Abstract: In German language the two terms "Soziale Psychiatrie" and "Sozialpsychiatrie" are used without any clear distinction. In this paper a historical analysis of the connotations of the two terms is made while underlying concepts are not considered. In the 19th century the words social and medicine were connected. At the beginning of the 20th century the terms "Soziale Psychiatrie" and "Sozialpsychiatrie" appeared in German as synonyma. In Germany-unlike, for instance, in the USA-ideas of segregation of the mentally ill and of eugenics were also regarded as "Soziale Psychiatrie". In difference to this connotation "Soziale Psychiatrie" described intentedly ideological positions in the 70's, while a certain of area of research was rather associated with "Sozialpsychiatrie". Finally, a more precise use of the terms is suggested for current discussions.

Information society and Greek society: Socio-cultural and political incompatibilities

Abstract: The term information society is being used in the field of techno-science as well as in politics, cultural studies, journalism, and public discussions; yet, a question arises: is the term pertinent from a scientific point of view or acceptable from the political and socio-cultural perspectives of all modern societies? The question is not only academically interesting but also of immediate practical concern since the conceptual accuracy and the study of its social perception is indispensable for successful, collective, and organized action. From a societal point of view, the technologies of information and telecommunications embody in an exemplary way the cultural mega-process and political mega-changes of contemporary societies. While it is more and more accepted that the essence of the new technologies is not technological, the fate of new information technologies is connected with the future of many other institutions and the summoning of multiple sources. The establishment and composition of the above-mentioned expression, leads to the hypothesis that the term information society should be used with the utmost care, provided of course that its connotation is recognized. In the case of Greek society, certain conditions and circumstances are not yet present which can render the use of the term/expression information society rather dysfunctional.