Como os nossos filhos aprendem a falar? : percurso de aquisição da Língua Portuguesa falada no Brasil

Esta investigação teve como objetivo descrever o percurso de aquisição da Língua Portuguesa falada no Brasil. Como base teórica, adotamos um referencial múltiplo, com abordagem das teorias behaviorista, inatista, cognitivista piagetiana, sócio-interacionista e emergentista, no intuito de buscar em cada uma delas as contribuições que nos auxiliassem no estudo da aquisição da linguagem. Trata-se de um estudo longitudinal em que registramos quinzenalmente em áudio o desenvolvimento linguístico de duas crianças brasileiras, desde a idade de 1;00 até 5;00. Os dados obtidos receberam transcrição fonética e/ou ortográfica e foram analisados nos aspectos fonológico, morfológico e sintático. Na área da fonologia, apresentamos o percurso de aquisição dos fonemas, os fonemas de difícil pronunciação e as estratégias de reparo usadas pelas crianças. Na morfologia, descrevemos o processo de aprendizagem dos morfemas flexivos nominais e verbais. Na sintaxe, apresentamos o caminho percorrido pelas crianças na construção das orações simples e dos diversos tipos de orações compostas. De modo geral, observamos um processo de aprendizagem lenta e gradual, em que provavelmente interatuam fatores de ordem biológica, cognitiva, social e linguística, marcado por elevações e regressões indicativas de uma auto-regulação do sistema-que-aprende.

Educação como política social de prevenção ao cometimento de crimes dolosos contra a vida e reincidência criminal

Esta dissertação teve como diretriz principal percecionar até que ponto a educação se torna eficaz como política pública capaz de ajudar a enfrentar a criminalidade. Tal enfrentamento ocorre por dois vieses distintos; O primeiro tem caráter mais preventivo, de modo que a educação tem sua atuação voltada à prevenção da criminalidade; enquanto o segundo viés consiste em prevenir a reincidência criminal com a aplicação de políticas educativas a apenados. Neste trabalho de investigação realizou-se uma breve revisão bibliográfica, abrangendo alguns autores teóricos que enfatizaram como se dá o processo de aquisição e desenvolvimento do conhecimento no indivíduo, dentre os quais constam: Descartes, Rousseau, Kant, além de Piaget e Vygotsky. A pesquisa consistiu em levantamento nos processos julgados pela comarca de João Pessoa do Tribunal do Júri no ano de 2011, a fim de verificar o grau de escolaridade dos réus, bem como no Estabelecimento Prisional, com vistas a levantamentos sobre a reincidência criminal. Os resultados da pesquisa demonstraram que é latente a eficácia da educação como política pública de combate a criminalidade. Foi apurada também, a enorme economia financeira que produziria uma maior concentração de investimentos educativos em detrimento de investimentos em segurança pública.

The effectiveness of directional microphone alignment in the Baha Divino

The primary objective of this research study is to determine if off-vertical directional microphone alignments of the Baha Divino significantly impact the Reception Threshold for Sentences (RTS, in dB) using the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) in a diffuse listening situation.

More appropriate: additional stories for students who are hearing impaired using the "Specialized Program Individualizing Reading Excellence" (S.P.I.R.E.) curriculum

S.P.I.R.E., at use at Central Institute for the Deaf, is a comprehensive, multi-sensory systematic reading and language program that targets at risk and struggling students. The purpose of this project was to write additional stories and sentences for students who are hearing impaired through reader 2 that may be used in conjunction with the exiting stories and supplements.

Teaching speech to hearing-impaired children using the Speech Skills Worksheet: Phonemes

This paper addresses teaching speech skills (accurate production of phonemes and use of phonemes in isolation, syllables, words, phrases and sentences) to hearing impaired students through the use of the Speech Skills Worksheet and an accompanying Teaching Guide.

The Developmental Sentence Analysis and the Grammatical Analysis of Elicited Language - Complex Level: a correlative study

This paper studies the Developmental Sentence Analysis (DSA), which measures syntactic maturity of spontaneous utterances, and the Grammatical Analysis of Elicited Language (GAEL), which uses a highly structured set of games and activities designed to elicit specific target sentences.

Una lectura de Baldomera (Del Fabulador)

El autor realiza un análisis sociológico de la novela de Pareja, amparado en los criterios del crítico Lucien Goldmann. Las categorías narratológicas que sirven de pauta son: el narrador, el espacio, el tiempo y los personajes. Se detiene en el análisis de los tres espacios que Pareja proyecta en la novela: campo, ciudad (ámbito identificado con la pobreza, el robo y el abuso de las autoridades) y mundo exterior (apenas referencial, pero gravitante en los inicios de modernización del país). Revisa los personajes y la estructura mental del autor. Concluye que el texto plantea una concepción diferente del arte de novelar, a tono con la vanguardia europea, a pesar de que muestra una realidad social que no cambia (Baldomera nació pobre, se desplaza entre el burdel, la cantina, el hospital y, finalmente, la cárcel). El texto se aleja del simple documento testimonial gracias al diseño del personaje: pese a su descomunal físico ya que personifica la desgracia, Baldomera expresa, al mismo tiempo, los valores de fidelidad, amor maternal y solidaridad.

Contextual modulation of amygdala responsivity to surprised faces

We recently demonstrated a functional relationship between fMRI responses within the amygdala and the medial prefrontal cortex based upon whether subjects interpreted surprised facial expressions positively or negatively. In the present fMRI study, we sought to assess amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex responsivity when the interpretations of surprised faces were determined by contextual experimental stimuli, rather than subjective judgment. Subjects passively viewed individual presentations of surprised faces preceded by either a negatively or positively valenced contextual sentence (e. g., She just found $500 vs. She just lost $500). Negative and positive sentences were carefully matched in terms of length, situations described, and arousal level. Negatively cued surprised faces produced greater ventral amygdala activation compared to positively cued surprised faces. Responses to negative versus positive sentences were greater within the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, whereas responses to positive versus negative sentences were greater within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. The present study demonstrates that amygdala response to surprised facial expressions can be modulated by negatively versus positively valenced verbal contextual information. Connectivity analyses identified candidate cortical-subcortical systems subserving this modulation.

Comprehension of wh-questions in a case of mixed dementia

We investigated processing of wh-questions and declarative sentences with differing syntactic complexity in a case of mixed dementia (FA). FA was impaired in her ability to understand syntactically complex declarative sentences and syntactically complex wh-questions beginning with which but not complex who questions. This profile, novel in dementia, is similar to that reported for people with agrammatic aphasia and discerns a ‘‘fault line’’ of the language system along a syntactic/semantic parameter

Treatment of written verb and written sentence production in an individual with aphasia: A clinical study

Background: Although the efficacy of treatments for spoken verb and sentence production deficits in aphasia has been documented widely, less is known about interventions for written verb and written sentence production deficits. Aims: This study documents a treatment aiming to improve production of (a) written subject-verb sentences (involving intransitive verbs) and (b) written subject-verb-object sentences (involving transitive verbs). Methods & Procedures: The participant, a 63-year-old female aphasic speaker, had a marked language comprehension deficit, apraxia of speech, relatively good spelling abilities, and no hemiplegia. The treatment involved intransitive verbs producing subject-verb active sentences and transitive verbs producing subject-verb-object active non-reversible sentences. The treatment was undertaken in the context of current UK clinical practice. Outcomes & Results: Statistical improvements were noted for the trained sets of verbs and sentences. Other improvements were also noted in LW's ability to retrieve some non-treated verbs and construct written sentences. Treatment did not generalise to sentence comprehension and letter spelling to dictation. Conclusions: Our participant's ability to write verbs and sentences improved as a result of the treatment.

Responsiveness to change by standard-form contract drafters: A case study of the FIDIC White Book

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs-Conseils (FIDIC) White Book standard form of building contract. It tracks the changes to this contract over its four editions, and seeks to identify their underlying causes. Design/methodology/approach – The changes made to the White Book are quantified using a specific type of quantitative content analysis. The amended clauses are then examined to understand the nature of the changes made. Findings – The length of the contract increased by 34 per cent between 1990 and 2006. A large proportion of the overall increase can be attributed to the clauses dealing with “conflict of interest/corruption” and “dispute resolution”. In both instances, the FIDIC drafting committees have responded to international developments to discourage corruption, and to encourage the use of alternative dispute resolution. Between 1998 and 2006, the average length of the sentences increased slightly, raising the question of whether long sentences are easily understood by users of contracts. Research limitations/implications – Quantification of text appears to be particularly useful for the analysis of documents which are regularly updated because changes can be clearly identified and the length of sentences can be determined, leading to conclusions about the readability of the text. However, caution is needed because changes of great relevance can be made to contract clauses without actually affecting their length. Practical implications – The paper will be instructive for contract drafters and informative for users of FIDIC's White Book. Originality/value – Quantifying text has been rarely used regarding standard-form contracts in the field of construction.

Tests of syntactic comprehension in aphasia: an investigation of task effects

Background: Consistency of performance across tasks that assess syntactic comprehension in aphasia has clinical and theoretical relevance. In this paper we add to the relatively sparse previous work on how sentence comprehension abilities are influenced by the nature of the assessment task. Aims: Our aims are: (1) to compare linguistic performance across sentence-picture matching, enactment, and truth-value judgement tasks; (2) to investigate the impact of pictorial stimuli on syntactic comprehension. Methods Procedures: We tested a group of 10 aphasic speakers (3 with fluent and 7 with non-fluent aphasia) in three tasks (Experiment 1): (i) sentence-picture matching with four pictures, (ii) sentence-picture matching with two pictures, and (iii) enactment. A further task of truth-value judgement was given to a subgroup of those speakers (n=5, Experiment 2). Similar sentence types across all tasks were used and included canonical (actives, subject clefts) and non-canonical (passives, object clefts) sentences. We undertook two types of analyses: (a) we compared canonical and non-canonical sentences in each task; (b) we compared performance between (i) actives and passives, (ii) subject and object clefts in each task. We examined the results of all participants as a group and as case-series. Outcomes Results: Several task effects emerged. Overall, the two-picture sentence-picture matching and enactment tasks were more discriminating than the four-picture condition. Group performance in the truth-value judgement task was similar to two-picture sentence-picture matching and enactment. At the individual level performance across tasks contrasted to some group results. Conclusions: Our findings revealed task effects across participants. We discuss reasons that could explain the diverse profiles of performance and the implications for clinical practice.

Neural response to emotional prosody in schizophrenia and in bipolar affective disorder

Background Evidence suggests a reversal of the normal left-lateralised response to speech in schizophrenia. Aims To test the brain's response to emotional prosody in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Method BOLD contrast functional magnetic resonance imaging of subjects while they passively listened or attended to sentences that differed in emotional prosody Results Patients with schizophrenia exhibited normal right-lateralisation of the passive response to 'pure' emotional prosody and relative left-lateralisation of the response to unfiltered emotional prosody When attending to emotional prosody, patients with schizophrenia activated the left insula more than healthy controls. When listening passively, patients with bipolar disorder demonstrated less activation of the bilateral superior temporal gyri in response to pure emotional prosody, and greater activation of the left superior temporal gyrus in response to unfiltered emotional prosody In both passive experiments, the patient groups activated different lateral temporal lobe regions. Conclusions Patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may display some left-lateralisation of the normal right-lateralised temporal lobe response to emotional prosody. Declaration of interest R.M. received a studentship from Neuraxis,, and funding from the Neuroscience and Psychiatry Unit, University of Manchester.

The neural response to emotional prosody, as revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging

Prosody is an important feature of language, comprising intonation, loudness, and tempo. Emotional prosodic processing forms an integral part of our social interactions. The main aim of this study was to use bold contrast fMRI to clarify the normal functional neuroanatomy of emotional prosody, in passive and active contexts. Subjects performed six separate scanning studies, within which two different conditions were contrasted: (1) "pure" emotional prosody versus rest; (2) congruent emotional prosody versus 'neutral' sentences; (3) congruent emotional prosody versus rest; (4) incongruent emotional prosody versus rest; (5) congruent versus incongruent emotional prosody; and (6) an active experiment in which subjects were instructed to either attend to the emotion conveyed by semantic content or that conveyed by tone of voice. Data resulting from these contrasts were analysed using SPM99. Passive listening to emotional prosody consistently activated the lateral temporal lobe (superior and/or middle temporal gyri). This temporal lobe response was relatively right-lateralised with or without semantic information. Both the separate and direct comparisons of congruent and incongruent emotional prosody revealed that subjects used fewer brain regions to process incongruent emotional prosody than congruent. The neural response to attention to semantics, was left lateralised, and recruited an extensive network not activated by attention to emotional prosody. Attention to emotional prosody modulated the response to speech, and induced right-lateralised activity, including the middle temporal gyrus. In confirming the results of lesion and neuropsychological studies, the current study emphasises the importance of the right hemisphere in the processing of emotional prosody, specifically the lateral temporal lobes. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.