Semantic domain and grammatical class effects in the picture-word interference paradigm

The role of grammatical class in lexical access and representation is still not well understood. Grammatical effects obtained in picture-word interference experiments have been argued to show the operation of grammatical constraints during lexicalization when syntactic integration is required by the task. Alternative views hold that the ostensibly grammatical effects actually derive from the coincidence of semantic and grammatical differences between lexical candidates. We present three picture-word interference experiments conducted in Spanish. In the first two, the semantic relatedness (related or unrelated) and the grammatical class (nouns or verbs) of the target and the distracter were manipulated in an infinitive form action naming task in order to disentangle their contributions to verb lexical access. In the third experiment, a possible confound between grammatical class and semantic domain (objects or actions) was eliminated by using action-nouns as distracters. A condition in which participants were asked to name the action pictures using an inflected form of the verb was also included to explore whether the need of syntactic integration modulated the appearance of grammatical effects. Whereas action-words (nouns or verbs), but not object-nouns, produced longer reaction times irrespective of their grammatical class in the infinitive condition, only verbs slowed latencies in the inflected form condition. Our results suggest that speech production relies on the exclusion of candidate responses that do not fulfil task-pertinent criteria like membership in the appropriate semantic domain or grammatical class. Taken together, these findings are explained by a response-exclusion account of speech output. This and alternative hypotheses are discussed.

Los Usos de los 10 verbos más frecuentes del español comparados con el amazigh

El presente trabajo pretende ser una herramienta que aporte información relativa a los usos de diez de los primeros verbos más frecuentes del español comparados con los usos que se encuentran en amazigh y que pueda servir como complemento en la prevención de posibles errores durante el proceso de aprendizaje del español por parte de estudiantes hablantes de amazigh

El Pretérito perfecto compuesto y su contraste con el pretérito perfecto simple en las variedades del español

En este trabajo se pretende, por una parte, identificar los usos del pretérito perfecto compuesto y su contraste para las distintas variedades del español y, por otra parte, comparar las conclusiones a las que se llegue al respecto, con dos métodos y una gramática pensados específicamente para la enseñanza de español como lengua extranjera

Некоторые наблюдения по поводу построения компьютерного морфологического анализатора марийского языка. [Problems in writing a two-level model of Mari morphology]

The article describes some concrete problems that were encountered when writing a two-level model of Mari morphology. Mari is an agglutinative Finno-Ugric language spoken in Russia by about 600 000 people. The work was begun in the 1980s on the basis of K. Koskenniemi’s Two-Level Morphology (1983), but in the latest stage R. Beesley’s and L. Karttunen’s Finite State Morphology (2003) was used. Many of the problems described in the article concern the inexplicitness of the rules in Mari grammars and the lack of information about the exact distribution of some suffixes, e.g. enclitics. The Mari grammars usually give complete paradigms for a few unproblematic verb stems, whereas the difficult or unclear forms of certain verbs are only superficially discussed. Another example of phenomena that are poorly described in grammars is the way suffixes with an initial sibilant combine to stems ending in a sibilant. The help of informants and searches from electronic corpora were used to overcome such difficulties in the development of the two-level model of Mari. The variation of the order of plural markers, case suffixes and possessive suffixes is a typical feature of Mari. The morphotactic rules constructed for Mari declensional forms tend to be recursive and their productivity must be limited by some technical device, such as filters. In the present model, certain plural markers were treated like nouns. The positional and functional versatility of the possessive suffixes can be regarded as the most challenging phenomenon in attempts to formalize the Mari morphology. Cyrillic orthography, which was used in the model, also caused problems. For instance, a Cyrillic letter may represent a sequence of two sounds, the first being part of the word stem while the other belongs to a suffix. In some cases, letters for voiced consonants are also generalized to represent voiceless consonants. Such orthographical conventions distance a morphological model based on orthography from the actual (morpho)phonological processes in the language.

Argument omissions in preschool Catalan and Spanish speaking children with SLI

El presente artículo describe tres estudios sobre la producción del verbo y la estructura argumental en niños con Trastorno Específico del Lenguaje (TEL) usando diferentes metodologías. El primero es un estudio observacional que usa una muestra de habla espontánea. El segundo usa una tarea experimental de denominación de oraciones como resultado de la observación de videos de acciones. El tercero comprende la tarea de denominación de oraciones con imágenes estáticas en eventos con diferente complejidad argumental. Aunque los datos concretos varían en función de la metodología usada, hay una clara evidencia de que los niños de habla catalana y española con TEL presentan especiales dificultades en la producción de verbos con una alta complejidad en relación a la estructura argumental y cometen errores en la especificación de los argumentos obligatorios. Se concluye quetanto limitaciones en el procesamiento como déficits en la representación semántica de los verbos pueden estar implicados en estas dificultades

Aprendizaje léxico y desarrollo de la gramática: vocabulario verbal, aceleración morfológica y complejidad sintáctica

This paper studies the initial development of certain language components. More precisely, we analyse the relation between three aspects that are closely involved in the grammar of the verb: morphological productivity, syntactic complexity, and verb vocabulary learning. The study is based on data about the relationship between lexical development and grammatical development, and also on proposals that a critical mass of vocabulary is needed in order to develop a grammatical component. The sample comprised six subjects who are monolingual or bilingual in Catalan andlor Spanish. Results show a morphological spurt some time afer the learning of a certain quantity of verbs. Moreover, syntactic complexity is only evident some months after this morphological spurt

La productividad de la morfología verbal a los años dos años de edad

Este trabajo se centra en estudiar la adquisición de la morfología verbal en una lengua con un paradigma verbal morfológicamente rico. Se predice que los niños de dos años no mostrarán productividad morfológica ante verbos desconocidos. La muestra se compone de 12 sujetos de edades comprendidas entre los 22 y los 31 meses. El procedimiento, de tipo experimental, se caracteriza por entrenar a los niños con verbos inventados. Los resultados muestran que los sujetos solamente utilizan los nuevos verbos con la forma morfológica con la que se han presentado. También se observa la omisión de determinados constituyentes de la oración. Estos resultados se discuten en relación con la asunción de discontinuidad de las competencias lingüísticas infantiles

Converses (extra)terrestres

El Nadal és una època plena de simbolisme, on les converses amb familiars i amics són protagonistes. Hi ha una frase bíblica,"I el Verb es va fer home i va conviure amb nosaltres" (Joan1,1-14), que sempre m'hi fa pensar, atès que en un context religiós el mot verb pot significar precisament això, "expressió d'idees i pensaments mitjançant la paraula" (DIEC2). Actualment al nostre planeta es parlen més de 6.800 idiomes. Hi ha idiomes tonals, com el mandarí i el ioruba, on el to amb què es pronuncia una paraula afecta el seu significat [...].

Lärande som text : en dramapedagogiskt förankrad läsning av det kroppsliga, rumsliga och retoriska i kunskapsbildande processer

My presupposition, that learning at some level deals with life praxis, is expressed in four metaphors: space, time, fable and figure. Relations between learning,knowledge building and meaning making are linked to the concept of personal knowledge. I present a two part study of learning as text in a drama pedagogical rooted reading where learning is framed as the ongoing event, and knowledge, as the product of previous processes, is framed as culturally formed utterances. A frame analysis model is constructed as a topological guide for relations between the two concepts learning and knowledge. It visualises an aesthetic understanding, rooted in drama pedagogical comprehension. Insight and perception are linked in an inner relationship that is neither external nor identical. This understanding expresses the movement "in between" connecting asymmetrical and nonlinear features of human endeavour and societal issues. The performability of bodily and oral participation in the learning event in a socio-cultural setting is analysed as a dialogised text. In an ethnographical case study I have gathered material with an interest for the particular. The empirical material is based on three problem based learning situations in a Polytechnic setting. The act of transformation in the polyphony of the event is considered as a turning point in the narrative employment. Negotiation and figuration in the situation form patterns of the space for improvisation (flow) and tensions at the boundaries (thresholds) which imply the logical structure of transformation. Learning as a dialogised text of "yes" and "no", of structure and play for the improvised, interrelate in that movement. It is related to both the syntagmic and the paradigmatic forms of thinking. In the philosophical study, forms of understanding are linked to the logical structure of transformation as a cultural issue. The classical rhetorical concepts of Logos, Pathos, Ethos and Mythos are connected to the multidimensional rationality of the human being. In the Aristotelian form of knowledge, phronesis,a logic structure of inquiry is recognised. The shifting of perspectives between approaches, the construction of knowledge as context and the human project of meaning making as a subtext, illuminates multiple layers of the learning text. In an argumentation that post-modern apprehension of knowledge, emphasising contextual and situational values, has an empowering impact on learning, I find pedagogical benefits. The dialogical perspective has opened lenses that manage to hold in aesthetic doubling the individual action of inquiry and the stage with its cultural tools in a three dimensional reading.

Causation and dominance : a study of Finnish causative verbs expressing social dominance

En väsentlig fråga inom såväl lingvistiska som kognitiva teorier är, hur språket beskriver kausala relationer. I finskan finns det en speciell typ av kausativa verb avledda med suffixet (U)ttA som används för att uttrycka att handlingen i fråga utförs av någon annan än subjektreferenten, t.ex. Maija haetuttaa Matilla kirjastosta kirjan ’Maija låter Matti hämta boken från biblioteket’ och Matti juoksuttaa Maijan kaupunkiin ’Matti låter Maija springa till staden’. Syftet med denna avhandling var att med exempel av sociala dominansens kausativer undersöka ordbildningens natur samt begreppet ’socialt förorsakande’. För att beskriva avledningars regelbundna argumentstruktur i form av kopplingen mellan syntaxen och semantiken upprättades deras prototypiska strukturer. Dessa verb har emellertid också specifika användningsområden som framhäver variationer i sociala relationer. Säregna egenskaper hos den sociala dominansens kausativer inkluderades i undersökningen och definierades som konstruktioner. Konstruktionerna omfattar speciella syntaktiska och/eller semantiska element och utöver det också pragmatiska värderande implikationer. Uppbyggnaden av den sociala dimensionen hos de undersökta verben består av egenskaper förbundna med typen av förorsakande, argumentens agentiva egenskaper (aktivitet eller passivitet, dominans, kontroll, viljestyrdhet och ansvarighet) samt konventionaliserade attityder och tolkningar. Ett exempel på en s.k. 'tolkningskonstruktion’ är den negativa dominansens uttryck som i avhandlingen kallas Maktmissbrukskonstruktionen. Denna konstruktion inkluderar talarens starkt kritiska hållning till den uttryckta situationen, t.ex. Asiakas juoksuttaa lentoemäntää ’Kunden låter flygvärdinnan springa’. Dessa konstruktioner fyller en viktig funktion i språklig kommunikation: att beskriva avvikande av sociala normer och att foga expressivitet till budskapet. Metodologiskt kombinerar denna avhandling teorier som baseras på det aktuella språkbruket och teoretisk lingvistisk analys. Verbens samt konstruktionernas konceptuella lexikala struktur och prototypstrukturerna analyserades med hjälp av den konceptuella semantikens verktyg, som har utvecklats av Jackendoff, Nikanne och Pörn.

Neural correlates of language learning in adults

The human language-learning ability persists throughout life, indicating considerable flexibility at the cognitive and neural level. This ability spans from expanding the vocabulary in the mother tongue to acquisition of a new language with its lexicon and grammar. The present thesis consists of five studies that tap both of these aspects of adult language learning by using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during language processing and language learning tasks. The thesis shows that learning novel phonological word forms, either in the native tongue or when exposed to a foreign phonology, activates the brain in similar ways. The results also show that novel native words readily become integrated in the mental lexicon. Several studies in the thesis highlight the left temporal cortex as an important brain region in learning and accessing phonological forms. Incidental learning of foreign phonological word forms was reflected in functionally distinct temporal lobe areas that, respectively, reflected short-term memory processes and more stable learning that persisted to the next day. In a study where explicitly trained items were tracked for ten months, it was found that enhanced naming-related temporal and frontal activation one week after learning was predictive of good long-term memory. The results suggest that memory maintenance is an active process that depends on mechanisms of reconsolidation, and that these process vary considerably between individuals. The thesis put special emphasis on studying language learning in the context of language production. The neural foundation of language production has been studied considerably less than that of perceptive language, especially on the sentence level. A well-known paradigm in language production studies is picture naming, also used as a clinical tool in neuropsychology. This thesis shows that accessing the meaning and phonological form of a depicted object are subserved by different neural implementations. Moreover, a comparison between action and object naming from identical images indicated that the grammatical class of the retrieved word (verb, noun) is less important than the visual content of the image. In the present thesis, the picture naming was further modified into a novel paradigm in order to probe sentence-level speech production in a newly learned miniature language. Neural activity related to grammatical processing did not differ between the novel language and the mother tongue, but stronger neural activation for the novel language was observed during the planning of the upcoming output, likely related to more demanding lexical retrieval and short-term memory. In sum, the thesis aimed at examining language learning by combining different linguistic domains, such as phonology, semantics, and grammar, in a dynamic description of language processing in the human brain.

Nollapersoonalause suomessa ja virossa. Tutkimus kirjoitetun kielen aineistosta

The present study focuses on the zero person constructions both in Finnish and Estonian. In the zero person construction, there is no overt subject and the verb is in the 3rd person singular form: Fin. Tammikuussa voi hiihtää Etelä-Suomessakin. Est. Jaanuaris saab suusatada ka Lõuna-Soomes ‘In January one can ski even in South-Finland’. The meaning of the zero construction is usually considered generic and open. However, the zero may be interpreted as indexically open so that the reference can be construed from the context. This study demonstrates how the zero may be interpreted as referring to the speaker, the addressee, or anybody. The zero person construction in Finnish has been contrasted to the generic pronoun constructions in Indo-European languages. For example, the zero person is translated in English as you or one; in Swedish and German as man. The grammar and semantics of the Finnish zero person construction have been studied earlier to some extent. However, the differences and similarities between Finnish and Estonian, two closely related languages, have not been thoroughly studied before. The present doctoral thesis sheds light on the zero person construction, its use, functions, and interpretation both in Finnish and Estonian. The approach taken is contrastive. The data comes from magazine articles published in Finnish and translated into Estonian. The data consists of Finnish sentences with the zero person and their Estonian translations. In addition, the data includes literary fiction, and non-translated Estonian corpora texts as well. Estonian and Finnish are closely related and in principle the personal system of the two languages is almost identical, nevertheless, there are interesting differences. The present study shows that the zero person construction is not as common in Estonian as it is in Finnish. In my data, a typical sentence with the zero person in both languages is a generic statement which tells us what can or cannot be done. When making generic statements the two languages are relatively similar, especially when the zero person is used together with a modal verb. The modal verbs (eg. Fin. voida ‘can’, saada ‘may’, täytyä ‘must’; Est. võima ‘may’, saama ‘can’, tulema ’must’) are the most common verbs in both Finnish and Estonian zero person constructions. Significant differences appear when a non-modal verb is used. Overall, non-modal verbs are used less frequently in both languages. Verbs with relatively low agentivity or intentionality, such as perception verb nähdä in Finnish and nägema in Estonian, are used in the zero person clauses in both languages to certain extent. Verbs with more agentive and intentional properties are not used in the Estonian zero person clauses; in Finnish their use is restricted to specific context. The if–then-frame provides a suitable context for the zero person in Finnish, and the Finnish zero person may occur together with any kind of verb in conditional if-clause. Estonian if-clauses are not suitable contexts for zero person. There is usually a da-infinitive, a generic 2nd person singular or a passive form instead of the zero person in Estonian counterparts for Finnish if-clauses with zero person. The aim of this study was to analyze motivations for choosing the zero person in certain contexts. In Estonian, the use of the zero person constructions is more limited than in Finnish, and some of the constraints are grammatical. On the other hand, some of the constraints are motivated by the differences in actual language use. Contrasting the two languages reveals interesting differences and similarities between these two languages and shows how these languages may use similar means differently.

Reflexive Space. A Constructionist Model of the Russian Reflexive Marker

This study examines the structure of the Russian Reflexive Marker ( ся/-сь) and offers a usage-based model building on Construction Grammar and a probabilistic view of linguistic structure. Traditionally, reflexive verbs are accounted for relative to non-reflexive verbs. These accounts assume that linguistic structures emerge as pairs. Furthermore, these accounts assume directionality where the semantics and structure of a reflexive verb can be derived from the non-reflexive verb. However, this directionality does not necessarily hold diachronically. Additionally, the semantics and the patterns associated with a particular reflexive verb are not always shared with the non-reflexive verb. Thus, a model is proposed that can accommodate the traditional pairs as well as for the possible deviations without postulating different systems. A random sample of 2000 instances marked with the Reflexive Marker was extracted from the Russian National Corpus and the sample used in this study contains 819 unique reflexive verbs. This study moves away from the traditional pair account and introduces the concept of Neighbor Verb. A neighbor verb exists for a reflexive verb if they share the same phonological form excluding the Reflexive Marker. It is claimed here that the Reflexive Marker constitutes a system in Russian and the relation between the reflexive and neighbor verbs constitutes a cross-paradigmatic relation. Furthermore, the relation between the reflexive and the neighbor verb is argued to be of symbolic connectivity rather than directionality. Effectively, the relation holding between particular instantiations can vary. The theoretical basis of the present study builds on this assumption. Several new variables are examined in order to systematically model variability of this symbolic connectivity, specifically the degree and strength of connectivity between items. In usage-based models, the lexicon does not constitute an unstructured list of items. Instead, items are assumed to be interconnected in a network. This interconnectedness is defined as Neighborhood in this study. Additionally, each verb carves its own niche within the Neighborhood and this interconnectedness is modeled through rhyme verbs constituting the degree of connectivity of a particular verb in the lexicon. The second component of the degree of connectivity concerns the status of a particular verb relative to its rhyme verbs. The connectivity within the neighborhood of a particular verb varies and this variability is quantified by using the Levenshtein distance. The second property of the lexical network is the strength of connectivity between items. Frequency of use has been one of the primary variables in functional linguistics used to probe this. In addition, a new variable called Constructional Entropy is introduced in this study building on information theory. It is a quantification of the amount of information carried by a particular reflexive verb in one or more argument constructions. The results of the lexical connectivity indicate that the reflexive verbs have statistically greater neighborhood distances than the neighbor verbs. This distributional property can be used to motivate the traditional observation that the reflexive verbs tend to have idiosyncratic properties. A set of argument constructions, generalizations over usage patterns, are proposed for the reflexive verbs in this study. In addition to the variables associated with the lexical connectivity, a number of variables proposed in the literature are explored and used as predictors in the model. The second part of this study introduces the use of a machine learning algorithm called Random Forests. The performance of the model indicates that it is capable, up to a degree, of disambiguating the proposed argument construction types of the Russian Reflexive Marker. Additionally, a global ranking of the predictors used in the model is offered. Finally, most construction grammars assume that argument construction form a network structure. A new method is proposed that establishes generalization over the argument constructions referred to as Linking Construction. In sum, this study explores the structural properties of the Russian Reflexive Marker and a new model is set forth that can accommodate both the traditional pairs and potential deviations from it in a principled manner.

Effect of ventilation on systemic blood flow evaluated by echodopplercardiography

Systemic blood flow (Q) was measured by echodopplercardiography in 5 normal young adult males during apnea, eupnea and tachypnea. Measurements were made in a recumbent posture at 3-min intervals. Tachypnea was attained by doubling the respiratory frequency at eupnea at a constant tidal volume. An open glottis was maintained during apnea at the resting respiratory level. The Q values were positively correlated with the respiratory frequency, decreasing from eupnea to apnea and increasing from eupnea to tachypnea (P<0.05). These data demonstrate that echodopplercardiography, a better qualified tool for this purpose, confirms the positive and progressive effects of ventilation on systemic blood flow, as suggested by previous studies based on diverse technical approaches

Large-scale production and purification of recombinant protein from an insect cell/baculovirus system in Erlenmeyer flasks: application to the chicken poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase catalytic domain

A simple and inexpensive shaker/Erlenmeyer flask system for large-scale cultivation of insect cells is described and compared to a commercial spinner system. On the basis of maximum cell density, average population doubling time and overproduction of recombinant protein, a better result was obtained with a simpler and less expensive bioreactor consisting of Erlenmeyer flasks and an ordinary shaker waterbath. Routinely, about 90 mg of pure poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase catalytic domain was obtained for a total of 3 x 109 infected cells in three liters of culture