Meta-Environment and Executable Meta-Language using Smalltalk: an Experience Report

Object-oriented modelling languages such as EMOF are often used to specify domain specific meta-models. However, these modelling languages lack the ability to describe behavior or operational semantics. Several approaches have used a subset of Java mixed with OCL as executable meta-languages. In this experience report we show how we use Smalltalk as an executable meta-language in the context of the Moose reengineering environment. We present how we implemented EMOF and its behavioral aspects. Over the last decade we validated this approach through incrementally building a meta-described reengineering environment. Such an approach bridges the gap between a code-oriented view and a meta-model driven one. It avoids the creation of yet another language and reuses the infrastructure and run-time of the underlying implementation language. It offers an uniform way of letting developers focus on their tasks while at the same time allowing them to meta-describe their domain model. The advantage of our approach is that developers use the same tools and environment they use for their regular tasks. Still the approach is not Smalltalk specific but can be applied to language offering an introspective API such as Ruby, Python, CLOS, Java and C#.

Language lateralisation increases with age in very preterm born 7-12 year-olds but not in term born control children

Background: Neural structural abnormalities as well as cognitive difficulties in language processing have been described in children born very preterm (<32 weeks of gestational age and/or <1500 g birth weight). These findings raise the question how premature birth is related to neural language organisation and lateralisation. The aim of the study was to test the following hypotheses: a) VPT/VLBW and control children show different language organisation b) language organisation in VPT/VLBW children is more bilateral compared to language organisation in control children c) positive correlations between language performance measures and language lateralisation exist in VPT/VLBW children and controls. Method: Brain activity was measured during a phonologic detection task in 56 very preterm born children and 38 term born control children aged 7 to 12 years using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. General IQ, verbal IQ, verbal fluency and reading comprehension were assessed outside the scanner. Results: Language organisation and lateralisation did not differ in very preterm and control children in overall comparisons. However, in very preterm children lateralisation increased between the age of 7 to 12 years. This correlation was not found in control children. Language organisation in very preterm children was bilateral in young children and left-sided in old children, whereas language organisation in control children was left-sided in the young and old age group. Frontal lateralisation correlated with General IQ in controls, but no other correlations between lateralisation and verbal performance were found. Discussion: The results of this study suggest different developmental patterns of language processing in very preterm born and term born control children. While very preterm born children showed atypical language organisation and lateralisation in younger years, typical left-sided patterns were found at the age of 12 years.

The modulation of reading strategies by language opacity in early bilinguals: an eye movement study

Converging evidences from eye movement experiments indicate that linguistic contexts influence reading strategies. However, the question of whether different linguistic contexts modulate eye movements during reading in the same bilingual individuals remains unresolved. We examined reading strategies in a transparent (German) and an opaque (French) language of early, highly proficient French–German bilinguals: participants read aloud isolated French and German words and pseudo-words while the First Fixation Location (FFL), its duration and latency were measured. Since transparent linguistic contexts and pseudo-words would favour a direct grapheme/phoneme conversion, the reading strategy should be more local for German than for French words (FFL closer to the beginning) and no difference is expected in pseudo-words’ FFL between contexts. Our results confirm these hypotheses, providing the first evidence that the same individuals engage different reading strategy depending on language opacity, suggesting that a given brain process can be modulated by a given context.