Processing coordinate subject-verb agreement in L1 and L2 Greek

The present study examines the processing of subject-verb (SV) number agreement with coordinate subjects in pre-verbal and post-verbal positions in Greek. Greek is a language with morphological number marked on nominal and verbal elements. Coordinate SV agreement, however, is special in Greek as it is sensitive to the coordinate subject's position: when pre-verbal, the verb is marked for plural while when post-verbal the verb can be in the singular. We conducted two experiments, an acceptability judgment task with adult monolinguals as a pre-study (Experiment 1) and a self-paced reading task as the main study (Experiment 2) in order to obtain acceptance as well as processing data. Forty adult monolingual speakers of Greek participated in Experiment 1 and a hundred and forty one in Experiment 2. Seventy one children participated in Experiment 2: 30 Albanian-Greek sequential bilingual children and 41 Greek monolingual children aged 10–12 years. The adult data in Experiment 1 establish the difference in acceptability between singular VPs in SV and VS constructions reaffirming our hypothesis. Meanwhile, the adult data in Experiment 2 show that plural verbs accelerate processing regardless of subject position. The child online data show that sequential bilingual children have longer reading times (RTs) compared to the age-matched monolingual control group. However, both child groups follow a similar processing pattern in both pre-verbal and post-verbal constructions showing longer RTs immediately after a singular verb when the subject was pre-verbal indicating a grammaticality effect. In the post-verbal coordinate subject sentences, both child groups showed longer RTs on the first subject following the plural verb due to the temporary number mismatch between the verb and the first subject. This effect was resolved in monolingual children but was still present at the end of the sentence for bilingual children indicating difficulties to reanalyze and integrate information. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that (a) 10–12 year-old sequential bilingual children are sensitive to number agreement in SV coordinate constructions parsing sentences in the same way as monolingual children even though their vocabulary abilities are lower than that of age-matched monolingual peers and (b) bilinguals are slower in processing overall.

The acquisition of verbal paradigms in Dutch and Greek L2 children: cross-linguistic differences and inflectional defaults

Previous research with children learning a second language (L2) has reported errors with verb inflection and cross-linguistic variation in accuracy and error patterns. However, owing to the cross-linguistic complexity and diversity of different verbal paradigms, the cross-linguistic effects on the nature of default forms has not been directly addressed in L2 acquisition studies. In the present study, we compared accuracy and error patterns in verbal agreement inflections in L2 children acquiring Dutch and Greek, keeping the children’s L1 constant (Turkish). Results showed that inflectional defaults in Greek follow universal predictions regarding the morphological underspecification of paradigms. However, the same universal predictions do not apply to the same extent to Dutch. It is argued that phonological properties of inflected forms should be taken into account to explain cross-linguistic differences in the acquisition of inflection. By systematically comparing patterns in child L2 Dutch and Greek, this study shows how universal mechanisms and target language properties work in tandem in the acquisition of inflectional paradigms.

Greek shipping and the crisis of the 1980's

In 1982, Greek shipping plunged into a severe crisis: the size of the fleet declined dramatically and over 30% of the fleet was laid-up. catapulting many shipping companies into bankruptcy. The causes of the crisis were: The world recession, leading to regulation, protectionism, subsidization. and the growth of new competition in the tramp shipping market. The erosion of the cost differential between Greek shipping and other maritime nations of the world. The specialization and containerization of the world fleet. The old age and other characteristics of the Greek fleet, which exacerbated the crisis. Greek shipping, with its long history and the expertise, diligence, and supreme opportunism of its dynamic shipowners, will survive the crisis.

Some comments on the F ring-Prometheus-Pandora environment

The system formed by the F ring and two close satellites, Prometheus and Pandora, has been analysed since the time that Voyager visited the planet Saturn. During the ring plane crossing in 1995 the satellites were found in different positions as predicted by the Voyager data. Besides the mutual effects of Prometheus and Pandora, they are also disturbed by a massive F ring. Showalter et al. [Icarus 100 (1992) 394] proposed that, the core of the ring has a mass which corresponds to a moonlet varying in size from 15 to 70 kin in radius which can prevent the ring from spreading due to dissipative forces, such as Poynting-Robertson drag and collisions. We have divided this work into two parts. Firstly we analysed the secular interactions between Prometheus-Pandora and a massive F ring using the secular theory. Our results show the variation in eccentricity and inclination of the satellites and the F ring taking into account a massive ring corresponding to a moonlet of different sizes. There is also a population of dust particles in the ring in the company of moonlets at different sizes [Icarus 109 (1997) 304]. We also analysed the behaviour of these particles under the effects of the Poynting-Robertson drag and radiation pressure. Our results show that the time scale proposed for a dust particle to leave the ring is much shorter than predicted before even in the presence of a coorbital moonlet. This result does not agree with the confinement model proposed by Dermott et al. [Nature 284 (1980) 309]. In 2004, Cassini mission will perform repeated observations of the whole system, including observations of the satellites and the F ring environment. These data will help us to better understand this system. (C) 2003 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Periodic collisions between the moon Prometheus and Saturn's F ring

Saturn's F ring, which lies 3,400 km beyond the edge of the main ring system, was discovered by the Pioneer 11 spacecraft(1) in 1979. It is a narrow, eccentric ring which shows an unusual 'braided' appearance in several Voyager 1 images' obtained in 1980, although it appears more regular in images from Voyager 2 obtained nine months later(3). The discovery of the moons Pandora and Prometheus orbiting on either side of the ring provided a partial explanation for some of the observed features(4). Recent observations of Prometheus(5,6) by the Hubble Space Telescope show, surprisingly, that it is lagging behind its expected position by similar to 20 degrees. By modelling the dynamical evolution of the entire Prometheus-F ring-Pandora system, we show here that Prometheus probably encountered the core of the F ring in 1994 and that it may still be entering parts of the ring once per orbit. Collisions with objects in the F ring provide a plausible explanation for the observed lag and imply that the mass of the F ring is probably less than 25% that of Prometheus.

Perturbations to Saturn's F-ring strands at their closest approach to Prometheus

The strange morphology of the F ring of Saturn is thought to be caused by the perturbing effects of two close satellites, Prometheus and Pandora. The F ring and the satellites also experience periodic close encounters as a result of differential precession arising from Saturn's oblateness. Using the orbits of the F-ring strands derived by Murray et al. (1997, Icarus 129, 304-316) the behaviour of the ring particles at their closest approach to Prometheus is analysed using numerical simulations. The results show that a gap and a wave are formed in the ring at each encounter with the satellite. However, the gap is expected to have a short lifetime due to keplerian shear. © 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.