Semàntica del mot : propietats semàntiques de tres verbs de desplaçament

El treball té com a objectiu l'estudi de les propietats semàntiques d'un grup de verbs de desplaçament i els seus corresponents arguments. La informació sobre el tipus de complement que demana cada verb és important de cara a conèixer l'estructura sintàctica de la frase i oferir solucions pràctiques en tasques de Processament del Llenguatge Natural. L'anàlisi se centrarà en els verbs conduir, navegar i volar, a partir dels sentits bàsics que el Diccionari d'ús dels verbs catalans (DUVC) descriu per a cadascun d'aquests verbs i de les seves restriccions selectives. Comprovarem, mitjançant un centenar de frases extretes del Corpus d'Ús del Català a la Web de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra i del Corpus Textual Informatitzat de la Llengua Catalana de l'Institut d'Estudis Catalans, si en la llengua es donen només els sentits i usos descrits en el DUVC i quins són els més freqüents. Finalment, descriurem els noms que fan de nucli dels arguments en termes de trets semàntics.

Evolución diacrónica del sistema verbal de movimiento en español: entrar y salir (ss. XII-XV)

Esta investigación es una tesis doctoral que tiene como objetivo el estudio de la evolución semántica de los verbos entrar y salir desde el punto de vista diacrónico en español medieval mediante la aplicación de las herramientas teóricas proporcionadas por la Lingüística cognitiva. A través de un corpus de documentaciones extraídas del Corpus del nuevo diccionario histórico del español de la Real Academia Española y que abarcan el intervalo desde el siglo XIII al XV, se analizan los valores semánticos de ambos verbos con la finalidad de determinar cómo fue desarrollándose su uso, qué significados generaron otros nuevos y cómo se relacionan entre sí los significados de un mismo verbo. Para llevar a cabo esta tarea se ha partido de la Teoría de los prototipos aplicada a la categorización léxica, así como de la Teoría de la metáfora y la metonimia. Asimismo, se ha analizado la estructura sintáctica de cada ejemplo, la selección léxica de los argumentos verbales y la tradición discursiva a la que pertenece cada documentación. De esta forma, es posible, no sólo describir la evolución semántica de ambos verbos, sino completar la información sobre las causas de su desarrollo diacrónico. Finalmente, se establecen las relaciones semánticas de carácter diacrónico existentes entre ambos verbos en tanto que miembros de un mismo grupo léxico, los verbos de movimiento, y se corrobora su vinculación más allá de una relación de antonimia de tipo primario.

Musical training intensity yields opposite effects on grey matter density in cognitive versus sensorimotor networks.

Using optimized voxel-based morphometry, we performed grey matter density analyses on 59 age-, sex- and intelligence-matched young adults with three distinct, progressive levels of musical training intensity or expertise. Structural brain adaptations in musicians have been repeatedly demonstrated in areas involved in auditory perception and motor skills. However, musical activities are not confined to auditory perception and motor performance, but are entangled with higher-order cognitive processes. In consequence, neuronal systems involved in such higher-order processing may also be shaped by experience-driven plasticity. We modelled expertise as a three-level regressor to study possible linear relationships of expertise with grey matter density. The key finding of this study resides in a functional dissimilarity between areas exhibiting increase versus decrease of grey matter as a function of musical expertise. Grey matter density increased with expertise in areas known for their involvement in higher-order cognitive processing: right fusiform gyrus (visual pattern recognition), right mid orbital gyrus (tonal sensitivity), left inferior frontal gyrus (syntactic processing, executive function, working memory), left intraparietal sulcus (visuo-motor coordination) and bilateral posterior cerebellar Crus II (executive function, working memory) and in auditory processing: left Heschl's gyrus. Conversely, grey matter density decreased with expertise in bilateral perirolandic and striatal areas that are related to sensorimotor function, possibly reflecting high automation of motor skills. Moreover, a multiple regression analysis evidenced that grey matter density in the right mid orbital area and the inferior frontal gyrus predicted accuracy in detecting fine-grained incongruities in tonal music.

Emphatic Polarity from Latin to Romance

This paper offers an analysis of some emphatic polarity constructions in Spanish and Catalan from a diachronic and comparative perspective. We focus on the syntactic processes involved in the verbalization of this polarity, in both its positive and negative expression. Our main proposal is that the markers used in Spanish and Catalan (as well as other Romance languages) to reinforce polarity have acquired their status as the consequence of a focalization process. It will be argued that these elements have undergone leftward movement from their base-generated hierarchically low position to a prominent position in the left periphery of the sentence (see Rizzi 1997) and subsequently experienced a progressive bleaching of their original value (which is related to a verbal denotation) to end up being reanalyzed / grammaticalized as polarity markers

Conditional and syllogistic deductive tasks dissociate functionally during premise integration.

Deduction allows us to draw consequences from previous knowledge. Deductive reasoning can be applied to several types of problem, for example, conditional, syllogistic, and relational. It has been assumed that the same cognitive operations underlie solutions to them all; however, this hypothesis remains to be tested empirically. We used event-related fMRI, in the same group of subjects, to compare reasoning-related activity associated with conditional and syllogistic deductive problems. Furthermore, we assessed reasoning-related activity for the two main stages of deduction, namely encoding of premises and their integration. Encoding syllogistic premises for reasoning was associated with activation of BA 44/45 more than encoding them for literal recall. During integration, left fronto-lateral cortex (BA 44/45, 6) and basal ganglia activated with both conditional and syllogistic reasoning. Besides that, integration of syllogistic problems additionally was associated with activation of left parietal (BA 7) and left ventro-lateral frontal cortex (BA 47). This difference suggests a dissociation between conditional and syllogistic reasoning at the integration stage. Our finding indicates that the integration of conditional and syllogistic reasoning is carried out by means of different, but partly overlapping, sets of anatomical regions and by inference, cognitive processes. The involvement of BA 44/45 during both encoding (syllogisms) and premise integration (syllogisms and conditionals) suggests a central role in deductive reasoning for syntactic manipulations and formal/linguistic representations.

Noninvasive functional and structural exploration of human subcortical structures with high resolution

Projecte de recerca elaborat a partir d’una estada al Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Alemanya, entre 2010 i 2012. El principal objectiu d’aquest projecte era estudiar en detall les estructures subcorticals, en concret, el rol dels ganglis basals en control cognitiu durant processament lingüístic i no-lingüístic. Per tal d’assolir una diferenciació minuciosa en els diferents nuclis dels ganglis basals s’utilitzà ressonància magnètica d’ultra-alt camp i alta resolució (7T-MRI). El còrtex prefrontal lateral i els ganglis basals treballant conjuntament per a mitjançar memòria de treball i la regulació “top-down” de la cognició. Aquest circuit regula l’equilibri entre respostes automàtiques i d’alt-ordre cognitiu. Es crearen tres condicions experimentals principals: frases/seqüències noambigües, no-gramatical i ambigües. Les frases/seqüències no-ambigües haurien de provocar una resposta automàtica, mentre les frases/seqüències ambigües i no-gramaticals produïren un conflicte amb la resposta automàtica, i per tant, requeririen una resposta de d’alt-ordre cognitiu. Dins del domini de la resposta de control, la ambigüitat i no-gramaticalitat representen dues dimensions diferents de la resolució de conflicte, mentre per una frase/seqüència temporalment ambigua existeix una interpretació correcte, aquest no és el cas per a les frases/seqüències no-gramaticals. A més, el disseny experimental incloïa una manipulació lingüística i nolingüística, la qual posà a prova la hipòtesi que els efectes són de domini-general; així com una manipulació semàntica i sintàctica que avaluà les diferències entre el processament d’ambigüitat/error “intrínseca” vs. “estructural”. Els resultats del primer experiment (sintax-lingüístic) mostraren un gradient rostroventralcaudodorsal de control cognitiu dins del nucli caudat, això és, les regions més rostrals sostenint els nivells més alts de processament cognitiu

A comparison of dequalinium chloride vaginal tablets (Fluomizin®) and clindamycin vaginal cream in the treatment of bacterial vaginosis: a single-blind, randomized clinical trial of efficacy and safety.

AIMS: To investigate if vaginal application of dequalinium chloride (DQC, Fluomizin®) is as effective as vaginal clindamycin (CLM) in the treatment of bacterial vaginosis (BV). METHODS: This was a multinational, multicenter, single-blind, randomized trial in 15 centers, including 321 women. They were randomized to either vaginal DQC tablets or vaginal CLM cream. Follow-up visits were 1 week and 1 month after treatment. Clinical cure based on Amsel's criteria was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes were rate of treatment failures and recurrences, incidence of post-treatment vulvovaginal candidosis (VVC), lactobacillary grade (LBG), total symptom score (TSC), and safety. RESULTS: Cure rates with DQC (C1: 81.5%, C2: 79.5%) were as high as with CLM (C1: 78.4%, C2: 77.6%). Thus, the treatment with DQC had equal efficacy as CLM cream. A trend to less common post-treatment VVC in the DQC-treated women was observed (DQC: 2.5%, CLM: 7.7%; p = 0.06). Both treatments were well tolerated with no serious adverse events occurring. CONCLUSION: Vaginal DQC has been shown to be equally effective as CLM cream, to be well tolerated with no systemic safety concerns, and is therefore a valid alternative therapy for women with BV [ClinicalTrials.gov, Med380104, NCT01125410].

Summarization of specialized discourse: the case of medical articles in Spanish

In this article, we present the current state of our work on a linguistically-motivated model for automatic summarization of medical articles in Spanish. The model takes into account the results of an empirical study which reveals that, on the one hand, domain-specific summarization criteria can often be derived from the summaries of domain specialists, and, on the other hand, adequate summarization strategies must be multidimensional, i.e., cover various types of linguistic clues. We take into account the textual, lexical, discursive, syntactic and communicative dimensions. This is novel in the field of summarization. The experiments carried out so far indicate that our model is suitable to provide high quality summarizations.

Spotting Translationese in two Corpora of Original and Translated Catalan Texts: an Empirical Approach

This research investigates the phenomenon of translationese in two monolingual comparable corpora of original and translated Catalan texts. Translationese has been defined as the dialect, sub-language or code of translated language. This study aims at giving empirical evidence of translation universals regardless the source language.Traditionally, research conducted on translation strategies has been mainly intuition-based. Computational Linguistics and Natural Language Processing techniques provide reliable information of lexical frequencies, morphological and syntactical distribution in corpora. Therefore, they have been applied to observe which translation strategies occur in these corpora.Results seem to prove the simplification, interference and explicitation hypotheses, whereas no sign of normalization has been detected with the methodology used.The data collected and the resources created for identifying lexical, morphological and syntactic patterns of translations can be useful for Translation Studies teachers, scholars and students: teachers will have more tools to help students avoid the reproduction of translationese patterns. Resources developed will help in detecting non-genuine or inadequate structures in the target language. This fact may imply an improvement in stylistic quality in translations. Translation professionals can also take advantage of these resources to improve their translation quality.

8-month non-use of a language. A case tudy. A longitudinal study of the effects on non use of one of the languages (Spanish) of a German L1 multilingual

Under the Dynamic Model of Multilingualism multilinguals are especially vulnerable to language attrition. It was the aim of the present study to verify if this was the case and to observe whether the different linguistic skills (receptive vs. descriptive) and the different linguistic levels (syntactic, lexical, morphological, etc.) would be affected equally.Data were gathered longitudinally by means of a language test for the subject’s reading, writing, listening and speaking skills as well as her knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. Although the overall accuracy remained intact and no proof for attrition in the receptive skills was found, the productive skills - mainly fluency - were shown to have suffered from language attrition. This was demonstrated by an increase in the number of pauses, hesitations, repetitions and self-corrections among others and decrease in the percentage of error-free clauses and decrease in the clause length, in oral and written fluency respectively.

Wörter stehen da einige. On nominal split topicalization in non-standard viennese german

This work investigates the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic properties of nominal Split Topicalization (ST) constructions in Standard and non-Standard German. The topic phrase denotes a property, and the MF phrase either modifies this property or picks out a specific entity. Semantically, the topic phrase will be analysed as a property-denoting expression which restricts the denotation of the verbal predicate, while the MF phrase is composed either via specify or restrict (cf. Chung and Ladusaw, 2003). Syntactically, the base position of the topic phrase is the (incorporating) verb, and the MF phrase is generated independently as the complement of the verb containing an empty pronoun. Since predicates introduce abstract discourse referents, the topic phrase can be resumed via "pro" in the MF phrase.

WH-Constructions in Cape Verdean Creole

This dissertation concerns two types of wh-constructions – interrogative and relative clauses – of Cape Verdean Creole (CVC), a Portuguese-based Creole language spoken on the archipelago of Cape Verde, specifically the variety spoken on Santiago Island, in the coast of West Africa. Chapter 2 focus on some aspects of the syntax of CVC, claiming that the possibilities of S-V inversion are very limited and that verbs stay in Vº, except for the Present tense form of the copula verb e ‘to be’, which is the spell out of the formal feature [Present] of T. It is proposed that CVC exhibits a clause functional structure that is similar to English: [CP [TP [NegP [AspP [VP … ]]]]]. In this chapter, it is also suggested that a non Split-CP, based on the formal features [±D, ±V, ±Q, ±Wh, ±T], correctly accounts for the distribution of the complementizers in CVC. Chapter 3 presents the wh-question formation strategies exhibited by CVC, showing that some of them involve Move, while others do not. Considering CVC data, it is said that the language has two clausal typing processes: an ambiguous complementizer ki ([±Q, ±Wh]), whose checking domain is strictly local; and an unambiguous complementizer Ø ([+Q, +Wh]), whose checking domain is not strictly local. The first one derives fronted wh-questions and the second one accounts for wh-in- -situ. Chapter 4 describes the relativization strategies displayed by CVC, focusing on the fact that PP pied-piping is ruled out and that resumption is possible both inside and outside syntactic islands. It is suggested a revision of Bianchi’s (2002a) head raising analysis for the structure of relative clauses. Chapter 5 discusses the properties of the defective copy strategy ([wh[+PL] … el]) and presents evidence in favor of a distinction between this type of wh-strategy and resumption ([wh[+PL] … es]). It is argued that the language requires an overt pronominal form (3SG) to occur in the complement position of the preposition because CVC types the clause with a complementizer ki [uCat +D] and does not allow for preposition incorporation. The set of formal features of the lower copy is ‘shrinked’, i.e. the features are deleted but not erased, being accessible to PF. This analysis of the defective copy xiv strategy predicts that it only applies to PPs and that it is an autonomous process involving wh-movement, which is distinct from resumption.

As Línguas de Cabo Verde: uma Radiografia Sociolinguística

Esta dissertação constitui um estudo de caso, exploratório e de carácter descritivo. Tem como objectivo fazer uma radiografia sociolinguística de Cabo Verde, particularmente centrada no actual uso das duas línguas faladas no arquipélago, o português (PCV) e o crioulo cabo-verdiano (LCV). A linha de pesquisa adoptada inspira-se fortemente nos estudos de macrosociolinguística, tomando a situação de contacto de línguas, caracterizadora da sociedade cabo-verdiana, como ponto de partida para o enquadramento de um conjunto de questões seleccionadas para investigação mais aprofundada. São, assim, explorados os processos implicados nesta situação de contacto concreta e os resultados linguísticos decorrentes da mesma, como o bilinguismo ou a diglossia (cf. Cap. 3). Recorrendo a contributos teóricos de áreas associadas e complementares (cf. Cap. 1), foca-se a importância da análise dos domínios em que cada uma das línguas é usada, das redes sociais dos falantes ou das suas atitudes linguísticas. A investigação partiu de uma recolha de dados realizada para o efeito, nas nove ilhas habitadas. As unidades de análise retidas correspondem a uma amostragem de dois grupos sociais distintos: falantes jovens, alunos do ensino secundário (inquiridos por questionário), e falantes adultos cuja profissão implica uma intensa actividade linguística (professores e ‘líderes’, inquiridos por entrevistas semi-dirigidas). Foi usada uma metodologia de recolha o mais rigorosa possível e adoptado o tratamento estatístico de dados (cf. Cap. 2). O confronto dos comportamentos linguísticos e das atitudes das duas gerações inquiridas, com diferentes características (cf. Introdução), forneceu importantes informações sobre a dinâmica linguística da sociedade cabo-verdiana, conclusões essas que serão importantes para a definição de orientações no âmbito da política linguística (cf. Cap. 5). É apresentada, como complemento, uma análise exploratória de alguns aspectos sintácticos atestados nas produções dos indivíduos inquiridos com instrução superior (cf. Cap. 4), um contributo, embora modesto, para a definição da variedade padrão do PCV

The acquisition of pronouns by French children: A parallel study of production and comprehension

This study examines syntactic and morphological aspects of the production and comprehension of pronouns by 99 typically developing French-speaking children aged 3 years, 5 months to 6 years, 5 months. A fine structural analysis of subject, object, and reflexive clitics suggests that whereas the object clitic chain crosses the subject chain, the reflexive clitic chain is nested within it. We argue that this structural difference introduces differences in processing complexity, chain crossing being more complex than nesting. In support of this analysis, both production and comprehension experiments show that children have more difficulty with object than with reflexive clitics (with more omissions in production and more erroneous judgments in sentences involving Principle B in comprehension). Concerning the morphological aspect, French subject and object pronouns agree in gender with their referent. We report serious difficulties with pronoun gender both in production and comprehension in children around the age of 4 (with nearly 30% errors in production and chance level judgments in comprehension), which tend to disappear by age 6. The distribution of errors further suggests that the masculine gender is processed as the default value. These findings provide further insights into the relationship between comprehension and production in the acquisition process.

Cape Verdean Creole of São Vicente: Its genesis and Structure

Although the Santiago variety of Cape Verdean Creole (CVC) has been the subject of numerous linguistic works, the second major variety of the language, i.e. the São Vicente variety of CVC (CVSV), has hardly been described. Nevertheless this lack of studies and given its striking differences, on all linguistic levels, from the variety of Santiago (CVST), the implicit explanation for such divergences, echoed for decades in the literature on CVC, has been the presumably decreolized character of CVSV. First, this study provides a comprehensive fieldwork-based synchronic description of CVSV major morpho-syntactic categories in the intent to document the variety. Second, it aims to place the study of CVSV within a broader scope of contact linguistics in the quest to explain its structure. Based on analyses of historical documents and studies, it reconstructs the sociohistorical scenario of the emergence and development of CVSV in the period of 1797- 1975. From the comparison of the current structures of CVSV and CVST, the examination of linguistic data in historical texts and the analysis of sociohistorical facts it becomes clear that the contemporary structure of CVSV stems from the contact-induced changes that occurred during the intensive language and dialect contact on the island of São Vicente in the early days of its settlement in the late 18th and ensuing early 19th century development, rather than from modern day pressure of Portuguese. Although this dissertation argues for multiple explanations rather than a single theory, by showing that processes such as languages shift among the first Portuguese settlers, L2 acquisition, migration of the Barlavento speakers and subsequent dialect leveling as well as language borrowing at a later stage were at stake, it demonstrates the usefulness of partial-restructuring model proposed by Holm (2004).