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Analogical proportions are statements of the form "A is to B as C is to D" that are used for several reasoning and classification tasks in artificial intelligence and natural language processing (NLP). For instance, there are analogy based approaches to semantics as well as to morphology. In fact, symbolic approaches were developed to solve or to detect analogies between character strings, e.g., the axiomatic approach as well as that based on Kolmogorov complexity. In this paper, we propose a deep learning approach to detect morphological analogies, for instance, with reinflexion or conjugation. We present empirical results that show that our framework is competitive with the above-mentioned state of the art symbolic approaches. We also explore empirically its transferability capacity across languages, which highlights interesting similarities between them. Comment: Submitted and accepted by the 8th IEEE International Conference on Data Science and Advanced Analytics (DSAA)

This article deals with a folk song known as ‘The Life of a Sailor’ existing in Portuguese and Brazilian oral tradition. In this song, a sailor complains about the trials of his life on board, mainly the fatiguing tasks he has to perform, for low pay. Although it has been collected in some inland areas, it seems this song was used mainly as a shanty. It was included also in a danced theatrical play about maritime subjects, performed by sailors or fishermen, which is now lost in Portugal but continues in Brazil. This article studies the relationships of this song with three other songs: ‘The Life of a Nun’, ‘The Life of a Friar’, and ‘The Life of a Student’. It also shows the view of life at sea which ‘The Life of a Sailor’ conveys, far removed from the epic tone usually connected with navigation in the Portuguese imaginary. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Based on field research, this article studies the role of ghost narratives about the dead killed in the genocide of the Bosniak people in Srebrenica. It focuses on three clusters of belief narrativ...

This article looks at the nineteenth-century preconception that ‘primitives’ ignore fatherhood—how it crept into ethnographic reports, made its way into anthropological theory, and sparked debates for the best part of a century. The discussion looks at the influential work of James Frazer and Sidney Hartland—at how these authors relied on folk metaphors to reason about the ignorance of ‘primitives’—and exposes Bronislaw Malinowski’s place in that tradition. Beyond revisiting Trobriand ethnography, this article argues that knowledge in anthropology and folkloristics is inherently metaphorical. The article makes a case for heeding metaphors across cultures, including in scholarly models, as a tool for understanding the varieties of human thinking. info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

Abstract The article presents a historical ethnography of an imaginary road. Drawing on printed sources, archival material, and new field research, it analyses the Icelandic folktale of ‘Loss of Men on Heiðarbæjarheiði’ (Manntjónið á Heiðarbæjarheiði), a story of regional importance in the Strandir district of the Icelandic Westfjords, esp. on the fjord of Steingrímsfjörður. The article shows the contrast between the presentation of the story in its printed ‘standard’ form and the shape that its appearances take when it is encountered locally, where its main Sitz im Leben is found in minimalist place-storytelling that is actualised in the engagement with particular places. In this local form as place-storytelling, the narrative shows a considerable amount of variation and a strong focus on the interpretation of local place-names. Based on the contexts of and the variation observed in the different variants of the story, the article presents an interpretation of ‘Loss of Men on Heiðarbæjarheiði’ which reads it as a formulation of collective fears.

Placing a calendar custom in a fictional text opens a wealth of possibilities to the writer: enabling new plots or changes in trajectories; signposting critical information about place and pace, time and timing; conveying and communicating complex characters. In Reservoir 13, a novel by Jon McGregor, the custom of well dressing appears not as superfluous detail, but as an intentional device to control and manipulate the text—and the reader’s response to it. Though the mentions of the custom are fleeting, this article demonstrates how its inclusion, and its frequency of use, enables the writer to develop a sophisticated sense of place and distinctive, memorable characters through a few well-chosen words. The custom also aids readers in their navigation through a structure which could otherwise prove difficult to fathom, while simultaneously grounding the characters in their calendar when collective trauma may provoke feelings of detachment and isolation.

The article gives an overview of the folk culture mechanisms that helped to cope with the pandemic situation in Belorussia during the first wave of COVID-19 (until midsummer 2020). The article is based on the qualitative analysis of interview texts related to the pandemic as well as the content of internet users' visual reactions (memes, poems, proverbs). In folk culture the mechanisms helping to overcome the crisis situation often have a ritual-magical nature. When describing the influence of the pandemic on some practices, the authors conclude that their performing in the crisis situation was especially important for the community. One of the ancient rituals activated for preventing the epidemic was the creation of a magic circle around the village by conducting a procession around the village with a ritual towel ('rushnik-abydzionnik'), which had to be made within one day. On March 28, this one-day-ritual was performed in Minsk with the greatest possible adherence to tradition. The initiators and participants of the practice were mainly representatives of the Students Ethnographic Society. Not all women present knew how to spin or weave, but some of the simplest operations were mastered. The towel was carried around Minsk and brought to a stone on the site of a pagan temple in the centre of Minsk at the sunset. The towel was tied around the stone, and the latter was also covered with threads spun on the same day. The ritual relieved the tension of the participants and fostered awareness of their solidarity, strengthening collective networks, and the feeling of empathy and unity. COVID-19 also affected the living traditions in Belarus. Some traditional practices were cancelled or postponed. The spread of the pandemic created a negative backdrop for living traditions. However, a number of rites and ceremonies were carried out despite the pandemic in accordance with their spatial and temporal reference. Due to the difficult epidemiological situation, the usual order of ceremonies was changed - their duration was reduced without changing the traditional rite structure. Only local residents participated in the rituals;although, formerly, many journalists and tourists had come to the villages from different parts of the country on the days of the ceremonies. For tradition bearers, such practices during a pandemic are a way to relieve stress and to share problems with people with similar interests. Traditions are one of the constants of their life;maintaining them in times of crises stabilizes the community. The coronavirus pandemic has caused a powerful explosion of folk art. The texts of various genres, both oral and written (graphic), are rapidly spreading on the Internet. A large number of them are based on the traditional worldview of Belarusians and are expressed in traditional forms (alterations, ditties, anecdotes, anti-sayings, paroemias, etc.). The role of humour has grown tremendously. Jokes and laughter in the face of an external threat are a compensatory mechanism that helps to overcome fear and uncertainty, and common laughter unites and helps to learn new rules of behaviour. Humour is not concerned with the threat of getting ill, but rather individual hygiene practices, the situation of quarantine, and circumstances of the new reality. Thus, humorous folklore becomes a way to adapt to new norms and to overcome fear and instability. © 2021 Eesti Keele InstituutAƒÂ‚A‚Â. All rights reserved.

The aim of the paper is to show the Polish story of the COVID-19 pandemic as seen through a humorous looking glass. Different stages of coronavirus presence in the media and social discourse have been accompanied by the appearance and development of jokes and memes, which illustrate the rapidly changing pandemic situation. The database consists of over three hundred memes, movies, and comments collected between February and May 2020, during the pandemic humour peak, and come mainly from private WhatsApp and Facebook accounts of the researchers. The humorous material is related to introduced restrictions, changing laws, parliamentary elections, news from other affected countries as well as seasons and festive times – especially Easter – occurring in the same period of time. The universal themes present in the humorous material travel ling around the world are complemented by the strictly culturally immersed topics, reflecting the specific social and political situation in Poland. The analysis undertaken in the article focuses on various kinds of mechanisms which involve intertextuality (allusions) as well as complexity of references that function as sources of humour, with special attention being paid to cultural references, for example, films, paintings, references to political life, including those of the life under socialism as well as universal themes, such as animal memes. Artikli eesmärk on anda ülevaade COVID-19 pandeemia kulust Poolas ja selle humoorikast kuvandist. Koroonaviiruse erinevatel etappidel kasutati sealses ajakirjanduses ja sotsiaalmeedias nalju ja meeme, mis kajastasid kiireid muutusi koroonarindel. Analüüsitav materjal sisaldab üle 300 meemi ja kommentaari. Need on kogutud veebruarist maini 2020. aastal, st viiruseteemalise huumoriloome haripunktis, autorite isiklikelt WhatsAppi ja Facebooki kontodelt. Naljad pilavad piiranguid, seadusemuudatusi, parlamendivalimisi, päevauudiseid teistest koroonaga võitlevatest riikidest ja seovad teemaga ka hooajaliste pühade, näiteks lihavõtete, motiive. Universaalsete, kõikjal maailmas rändavate huumoritekstide kõrval tõusid esile kultuurispetsiifilised teemad, mis kajastasid Poola sotsiaalseid ja poliitilisi olusid. Analüüs tuvastab intertekstuaalseid huumorimehhanisme ja osutab keerukatele kultuurilistele viidetele, mis on nende aluseks. Intertekstuaalsed vihjed kasutavad näiteks elemente Poola sotsialismiajastu filmidest, maalikunstist, poliitelust, kuid viitavad ka universaalsetele motiividele, näiteks loomameemidele.