Post-colonial (American?) English Presence on the North-Western Pacific Island of Kosrae: A cross-linguistic analysis of the overlaps and divergences of Kosraean English compared to standard American English

Kosrae is the most remote island of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), with a population of less than 7,000 inhabitants, located in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Guam. FSM is an independent sovereign nation consisting of four states in total: Pohnpei, Chuuk, Yap, and Kosrae. Having passed through the hands of Spain, Germany and Japan, the United States gained administrative control of FSM after WWII, as commissioned by the UN. The FSM became an independent nation in 1986 while still retaining affiliation with the US under a ‘Compact of Free Association’. Now both Kosraean and English are considered to be the two official languages and the variety of Kosraean English which has arisen proves for an interesting comparative study. In order to obtain the relevant data, I spent three months on the island of Kosrae, interviewing 90 local speakers, ranging in age (16-70), occupation, sex and time spent off island. The 45 minute long interviews were informal but supported by participant information to capture relevant data and conversations were guided in a way that aimed to reveal language and cultural attitudes. With reference to these samples, I examine the effects of American English on the language use in Kosrae. This paper aims to present a broad analysis of phonological, morphosyntactic and pragmatic features, such as pro-dropping, discourse markers and other practices in order to demonstrate the similarities and differences between the two varieties, which are coming to shape the variety developing on Kosrae. Having transcribed conversations using the tool Elan, I will put particular focus on [h] deletion and insertion, a rare occurrence found in a variety of post-colonial American English which I believe is of particular interest. I assess the presence of English in Kosrae with reference to sociological influences, past and present. First, I discuss the extralinguistic factors which have shaped the English that is currently used on Kosrae, including migration between US and FSM, and English as a language of administration, social media usage and visual media presence. Secondly, I assess the use of English in this community in light of Schneider’s (2007) ‘Dynamic Model’, with reference to America’s contribution as an ‘exploitation colony’ as defined by Mufwene (2001). Finally, an overview of the salient linguistic characteristics of Kosraean English, based on the data collected will be presented and compared to features associated with standard American English in view of examining overlap and divergence. The overall objective is to present a cross-linguistic description of a hitherto unexamined English emerging in a postcolonial environment with a juxtaposed contact variety. Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2001. The ecology of language evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Schneider, E. (2007). Postcolonial Englishes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Segal, H.G. (1989) Kosrae, The Sleeping Lady Awakens. Kosrae: Kosrae Tourist Division, Dept. Of Conservation and Development. Keywords: American English, Global English, Pacific English, Morphosyntactic, Phonological, Variation, Discourse

Using the Europarl corpus for linguistic research

Europarl is a large multilingual corpus containing the minutes of the debates at the European Parliament. This article presents a method to extract different corpora from Europarl: monolingual and multilingual comparable corpora, as well as parallel corpora. Using state-of-the-art measures of homogeneity, we show that these corpora are very similar. In addition, we argue that they present many advantages for research in various fields of linguistics and translation studies, and we also discuss some of their limitations. We conclude by reviewing a number of previous studies that made use of these corpora, emphasizing in each case the possibilities offered by Europarl.

Does gender-fair language pay off? The social perception of professions from a cross-linguistic perspective

In many languages, masculine forms (e.g., German Lehrer, “teachers, masc.”) have traditionally been used to refer to both women and men, although feminine forms are available, too. Feminine-masculine word pairs (e.g., German Lehrerinnen und Lehrer, “teachers, fem. and teachers, masc.”) are recommended as gender-fair alternatives. A large body of empirical research documents that the use of gender-fair forms instead of masculine forms has a substantial impact on mental representations. Masculine forms activate more male representations even when used in a generic sense, whereas word pairs (e.g., German Lehrerinnen und Lehrer, “teachers, fem. and teachers, masc.”) lead to a higher cognitive inclusion of women (i.e., visibility of women). Some recent studies, however, have also shown that in a professional context word pairs may be associated with lesser status. The present research is the first to investigate both effects within a single paradigm. A cross-linguistic (Italian and German) study with 391 participants shows that word pairs help to avoid a male bias in the gender-typing of professions and increase women's visibility; at the same time, they decrease the estimated salaries of typically feminine professions (but do not affect perceived social status or competence). This potential payoff has implications for language policies aiming at gender-fairness.

CHOLINERGIC MODULATION OF THALAMIC INPUT INTO THE CINGULATE CORTEX

This research demonstrates cholinergic modulation of thalamic input into the limbic cortex. A projection from the mediodorsal thalamus (MD) to the anterior cingulate cortex was defined anatomically and physiologically. Injections of horse-radish peroxidase into the anterior cingulate cortex labels neurons in the lateral, parvocellular, region of MD. Electrical Stimulation of this area produces a complex field potential in the anterior cingulate cortex which was further characterized by current density analysis and single cell recordings.^ The monsynaptic component of the response was identified as a large negative field which is maximal in layer IV of the anterior cingulate cortex. This response shows remarkable tetanic potentiation of frequencies near 7 Hz. During a train of 50 or more stimuli, the response would grow quickly and remain at a fairly stable potentiated level throughout the train.^ Cholinergic modulation of this thalamic response was demonstrated by iontophoretic application of the cholinergic agonist carbachol decreased the effectiveness of the thalamic imput by rapidly attenuation the response during a train of stimuli. The effect was apparently mediated by muscarinic receptors since the effect of carbachol was blocked by atropine but not by hexamethonium.^ To determine the source of the cingulate cortex cholinergic innervation, lesions were made in the anterior and medial thalamus and in the nucleus of the diagonal band of Broca. The effects of these lesions on choline acetyltranferase activity in the cingulate cortex were determined by a micro-radio-enzymatical assay. Only the lesions of the nucleus of the diagonal band significantly decreased the choline acetyltransferase activity in the cingulate cortex regions. Therefore, the diagonal band appears to be a major source of sensory cholinergic innervation and may be involved in gating of sensory information from the thalamus into the limbic cortex. Attempts to modulate the cingulate response to MD stimulation with electrical stimulation of the diagonal band, however were not successful.^

Measuring Scale Efficiency from the Translog Multi-Input, Multi-Output Distance Function

Ray (1998) developed measures of input- and output-oriented scale efficiency that can be directly computed from an estimated Translog frontier production function. This note extends the earlier results from Ray (1998) to the multiple-output multiple input case.

Comparing Input- and Output-Oriented Measures of Technical Efficiency to Determine Local Returns to Scale in DEA Models

This paper shows how one can infer the nature of local returns to scale at the input- or output-oriented efficient projection of a technically inefficient input-output bundle, when the input- and output-oriented measures of efficiency differ.