Linguistic interfaces and language acquisition in childhood: introduction to the special issue

Much contemporary L1 acquisition theory and empirical research are guided by the hypothesis that acquisition delays in children are often related to the integration of information across grammatical and other cognitive modules, such as syntax and discourse-pragmatics (see e.g., Grinstead, 2010). This special issue brings together cutting edge research from all relevant paradigms addressing interface issues in child language acquisition and provides a platform for the study of the interaction between different levels of linguistic knowledge. In this introduction, we present the reader with the tools needed to best understand the contributions of the individual studies and what they bring to bear on larger theoretical questions as a collective.

Discourse-sensitive clitic-doubled dislocations in heritage Spanish

This experimental study tests the predictions of the Interface Hypothesis (Sorace, 2011, 2012) using two constructions whose appropriateness depends on monitoring discourse information: Clitic Left Dislocation and Fronted Focus. Clitic Left Dislocation relates a dislocated and clitic-doubled object to an antecedent activated in previous discourse, while Fronted Focus does not relate the fronted constituent to a discourse antecedent. The Interface Hypothesis argues that speakers in language contact situations experience difficulties when they have to integrate syntactic with discourse information. We tested four groups of native speakers on these constructions: Spanish monolinguals, bilinguals with more than 7 years residence in the US, intermediate and advanced proficiency heritage speakers. Our findings suggest that attrition has not set in the adult L2 bilingual speakers, and that the heritage speakers perform similarly to the monolingual and the adult sequential bilingual natives.

L1 Acquisition of interface properties across Portuguese dialects: modular and interdisciplinary interfaces as sources of explanation

This study investigates the child (L1) acquisition of properties at the interfaces of morphosyntax, syntax-semantics and syntax-pragmatics, by focusing on inflected infinitives in European Portuguese (EP). Three child groups were tested, 6–7-year-olds, 9–10-year-olds and 11–12-year-olds, as well as an adult control group. The data demonstrate that children as young as 6 have knowledge of the morpho-syntactic properties of inflected infinitives, although they seem at first glance to show partially insufficient knowledge of their syntax–semantic interface properties (i.e. non-obligatory control properties), differently from children aged 9 and older, who show clearer evidence of knowledge of both types of properties. However, in general, both morpho-syntactic and syntax–semantics interface properties are also accessible to 6–7-year-old children, although these children give preference to a range of interpretations partially different from the adults; in certain cases, they may not appeal to certain pragmatic inferences that permit additional interpretations to adults and older children. Crucially, our data demonstrate that EP children master the two types of properties of inflected infinitives years before Brazilian Portuguese children do (Pires and Rothman, 2009a,b), reasons for and implications of which we discuss in detail.

A interface entre educação e mercado : uma análise crítica das mudanças socioculturais no contexto educacional

In the context of late modernity, the socio-cultural transformations established new social practices which corroborate discursive changes in dialectic movements, contributing to the order of the educational discourses to be more and more affected by typical market discourses and values which are covered by ideologies, hegemonic struggles and power relations. In this sense, this research study, which is based on the theoretical tenets of the Critical Discourse Analysis in its interdisciplinary branch (FAIRCLOUGH, 2006; ORMUNDO, 2010; PEDROSA, 2010; RAMALHO E RESENDE, 2011), aims at discussing how the sociocultural changes in the context of private education interact with the market proposal of neoliberal and economical policies. The research was methodologically based on the qualitative approach (CHIZZOTTI, 1991; BOGDAN e BIKLEN, 1994; MINAYO, 1994), especially on the principles of contemporary Applied Linguistics (SIGNORINI, 1998; MOITA-LOPES, 2006; MENEZES, SILVA, GOMES, 2009). Data were gathered from advertisements used in campaigns by private educational institutions and agencies in Natal/RN; the advertisements were collected in primary and secondary levels and in language courses from October to December, 2010. The data analysis indicate that education, in the context of globalization and late modernity, has become a market agency and that the new face of the educational discourse of private institutions is interwoven with a social representation of education as a site of struggle and hegemonic dispute. Therefore, the research leads us to infer that, as the educational public policies based on hegemonic economy and on ideological assumptions of international agents (Global Bank, FMI, etc.) have become widespread, education has become an arena of dispute and a powerful economic product to the market of cultural and commercial industry, thus emphasizing a society in which everything is economically based

A perífrase verbal IR+infinitivo e o futuro do dialeto riopretano: um esudo na interface sociolinguística/gramaticalização. -

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A oração relativa em português sob a perspectiva discursivofuncional: interface entre a descrição e o ensino

Pós-graduação em Estudos Linguísticos - IBILCE

Review of "Lingua e diritto. Livelli di analisi"

The book Lingua e diritto: Livelli di analisi brings together contributions by scholars from different fields: anthropology, theory and philosophy of law, comparative law, European law, translation, discourse analysis, pragmatics, morpho-syntax and cognitive linguistics. Contributions deal with a number of issues situated at the interface between language and law: questions of meaning and the interpretation of legal texts, the nature of legal interpretation, problems of ambiguity and vagueness in legal texts, the characteristics of legal language, legal terminology and the multilingualism of European law. As a whole, the book provides insights into a number of different topics and perspectives situated at the interface between language and law. It is of interest both to lawyers and linguists as a valuable and very welcome contribution to the field of legal linguistics.

The roles of language processing in a spoken language interface.

This paper provides an overview of the colloquium's discussion session on natural language understanding, which followed presentations by M. Bates [Bates, M. (1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92, 9977-9982] and R. C. Moore [Moore, R. C. (1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92, 9983-9988]. The paper reviews the dual role of language processing in providing understanding of the spoken input and an additional source of constraint in the recognition process. To date, language processing has successfully provided understanding but has provided only limited (and computationally expensive) constraint. As a result, most current systems use a loosely coupled, unidirectional interface, such as N-best or a word network, with natural language constraints as a postprocess, to filter or resort the recognizer output. However, the level of discourse context provides significant constraint on what people can talk about and how things can be referred to; when the system becomes an active participant, it can influence this order. But sources of discourse constraint have not been extensively explored, in part because these effects can only be seen by studying systems in the context of their use in interactive problem solving. This paper argues that we need to study interactive systems to understand what kinds of applications are appropriate for the current state of technology and how the technology can move from the laboratory toward real applications.

MIQUÉIAS 6,1-8: UM TEXTO PARADIGMÁTICO NA INTERFACE DA CRÍTICA PROFÉTICA COM A SABEDORIA ISRAELITA

A presente dissertação de mestrado em Literatura e Religião no Mundo Bíblico tem por objetivo realizar um comentário exegético e hermenêutico de um texto reconhecido como profético e sua relação no plano teológico, antropológico e literário com o universo sapiencial israelita no período pós-exílico. Trata-se do estudo de Miquéias 6,1-8, cujo foco de investigação desenvolveu-se a partir da análise do discurso e da hipótese de confluência de gêneros literários, a saber, o profético e o sapiencial. Considerado sob os aspectos formais, contextuais e de conteúdo antropo teológico, o texto estudado apresenta-se como resultado da composição de diversos gêneros literários e manifesta, internamente, conflitos de teologias que vão desde a interpretação da própria história de Israel até a prática religiosa com suas concepções de Deus. Miquéias 6,1-8, interpretado aqui a partir de metodologias exegéticas modernas e abordagens contextuais e antropológicas, configura-se como uma verdadeira síntese de interpretação deuteronomista não hegemônica dos eventos do êxodo e da mensagem dos profetas bíblicos do século VIII aeC Miquéias, Amós, Oséias e Isaías. Estamos diante de um texto que se apresenta, ao mesmo tempo, coeso e portador de diferentes universos e vozes em sua composição. Seu discurso, cujo teor nasce do conflito entre projetos e grupos no período pós-exílico, resgata memórias antigas de um êxodo que passa por sujeitos marginais e reinterpreta a crítica profética em sua função de discernimento ético e teológico, porém, no formato sapiencial. Pela profundidade sócio teológica e pela proposta não sacrificial de seu discurso, Miquéias 6,1-8 tem sido um texto continuamente revisitado no interior da Teologia da Libertação na América Latina, inspirando boa parte de sua produção.

A unification-based natural language interface to a database.

An implementation of a Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) natural language front-end to a database is presented, and its capabilities demonstrated by reference to a set of queries used in the Chat-80 system. The potential of LFG for such applications is explored. Other grammars previously used for this purpose are briefly reviewed and contrasted with LFG. The basic LFG formalism is fully described, both as to its syntax and semantics, and the deficiencies of the latter for database access application shown. Other current LFG implementations are reviewed and contrasted with the LFG implementation developed here specifically for database access. The implementation described here allows a natural language interface to a specific Prolog database to be produced from a set of grammar rule and lexical specifications in an LFG-like notation. In addition to this the interface system uses a simple database description to compile metadata about the database for later use in planning the execution of queries. Extensions to LFG's semantic component are shown to be necessary to produce a satisfactory functional analysis and semantic output for querying a database. A diverse set of natural language constructs are analysed using LFG and the derivation of Prolog queries from the F-structure output of LFG is illustrated. The functional description produced from LFG is proposed as sufficient for resolving many problems of quantification and attachment.

Translation as an ideological interface : English translations of Hitler's Mein Kampf

The present thesis is located within the framework of descriptive translation studies and critical discourse analysis. Modern translation studies have increasingly taken into account the complexities of power relations and ideological management involved in the production of translations. Paradoxically, persuasive political discourse has not been much touched upon, except for studies following functional (e.g. Schäffner 2002) or systemic-linguistic approaches (e.g. Calzada Pérez 2001). By taking 11 English translations of Hitler’s Mein Kampf as prime examples, the thesis aims to contribute to a better understanding of the translation of politically sensitive texts. Actors involved in political discourse are usually more concerned with the emotional appeal of their message than they are with its factual content. When such political discourse becomes the locus of translation, it may equally be crafted rhetorically, being used as a tool to persuade. It is thus the purpose of the thesis to describe subtle ‘persuasion strategies’ in institutionally translated political discourse. The subject of the analysis is an illustrative corpus of four full-text translations, two abridgements, and five extract translations of Mein Kampf. Methodologically, the thesis pursues a top-down approach. It begins by delineating sociocultural and situative-agentive conditions as causal factors impinging on the individual translations. Such interactive and interpersonal factors determined textual choices. The overall textual analysis consists of an interrelated corpus-driven and corpus-based approach. It demonstrates how corpus software can be fruitfully harnessed to discern ‘ideological significations’ in the translated texts. Altogether, the thesis investigates how translational decision-makers attempted to position the source text author and his narrative in line with overall rhetorical purposes.

Assessment of the EEE-4 oral test: a discourse analysis based on complex networks.

With the development of information technology, the theory and methodology of complex network has been introduced to the language research, which transforms the system of language in a complex networks composed of nodes and edges for the quantitative analysis about the language structure. The development of dependency grammar provides theoretical support for the construction of a treebank corpus, making possible a statistic analysis of complex networks. This paper introduces the theory and methodology of the complex network and builds dependency syntactic networks based on the treebank of speeches from the EEE-4 oral test. According to the analysis of the overall characteristics of the networks, including the number of edges, the number of the nodes, the average degree, the average path length, the network centrality and the degree distribution, it aims to find in the networks potential difference and similarity between various grades of speaking performance. Through clustering analysis, this research intends to prove the network parameters’ discriminating feature and provide potential reference for scoring speaking performance.

Interface Between Intellectual Disability And Mental Health: Hermeneutic Review.

A literature review was conducted aiming to understand the interface between the Intellectual Disability and Mental Health fields and to contribute to mitigating the path of institutionalizing individuals with intellectual deficiencies. The so-called dual diagnosis phenomenon remains underestimated in Brazil but is the object of research and specific public policy internationally. This phenomenon alerts us to the prevalence of mental health problems in those with intellectual disabilities, limiting their social inclusion. The findings reinforce the importance of this theme and indicate possible diagnostic invisibility of the development of mental illness in those with intellectual disabilities in Brazil, which may contribute to sustaining psychiatric institutionalization of this population. 

Quantificação de fluxos de mercúrio gasoso na interface solo/atmosfera utilizando câmara de fluxo dinâmica: aplicação na bacia do Rio Negro

Gaseous mercury sampling conditions were optimized and a dynamic flux chamber was used to measure the air/surface exchange of mercury in some areas of the Negro river basin with different vegetal coverings. At the two forest sites (flooding and non-flooding), low mercury fluxes were observed: maximum of 3 pmol m-2 h-1 - day and minimum of -1 pmol m-2 h-1 - night. At the deforested site, the mercury fluxes were higher and always positive: maximum of 26 pmol m-2 h-1 - day and 17 pmol m-2 h-1 - night. Our results showed that deforestation could be responsible for significantly increasing soil Hg emissions, mainly because of the high soil temperatures reached at deforested sites.

O discurso coletivo de ex-hanseniano morador de um antigo leprosário no nordeste do Brasil

Este estudo teve como objetivo conhecer o discurso acerca da vida de ex-hansenianos residentes em um antigo hospital-colônia. De abordagem qualitativa, caracteriza-se como uma pesquisa descritivo-exploratória. Os dados foram levantados com 12 sujeitos por meio de uma entrevista semiestruturada e foram organizados pela técnica do Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo, obtendo-se as seguintes ideias centrais: "Existe uma diferença entre o antes e o que é hoje e "Para a pessoa que tem sequela, não muda nada". Constatou-se que a percepção da cura da doença foi objeto de controvérsias, havendo os que a percebem como uma vitória, ou seja, o fato de não ter mais a doença lhes possibilita pensar em um (re)começo.