"The Heart of Irish-Language Proverbs": A Linguo-Stylistic Analysis of Explicit Metaphor

Metaphor has featured frequently in attempts to define the proverb (see Taylor 1931, Whiting 1932, Mieder 1985, 1996), and since the advent of modern paremiological scholarship, it has been identified as one of the most salient markers of ‘proverbiality’ (Arora 1984) across a broad spectrum of world languages. Significant language-specific analyses, such as Klimenko (1946), Silverman-Weinreich (1981), and Arora (1984) have provided valuable qualitative information on the form and function of metaphor in Russian, Yiddish, and Spanish proverbs respectively. Unfortunately, no academic scholarship has engaged with the subject of metaphor in Irish proverbs. This study builds on international paremiological research on metaphor and provides for the first time a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative analysis of the form, frequency, and nature of linguistic metaphors in Irish proverbs (1856-1952). Moreover, from the perspective of paremiology, it presents a methodological template and result-set that can be applied cross-linguistically to compare metaphor in the proverbs of other languages.

Arsenic speciation in Japanese rice drinks and condiments

Rice has been demonstrated to be one of the major contributors to inorganic arsenic (i-As) intake in humans. However, little is known about rice products as additional source of i-As exposure. In this study, misos, syrups and amazake (a fermented sweet rice drink) produced from rice, barley and millet were analysed for total arsenic (t-As) and a subset of samples were also analyzed for As speciation. Rice based products displayed a higher i-As content than those derived from barley and millet. Most of the t-As in the rice products studied was inorganic (63-83%), the remainder being dimethylarsinic acid. Those who regularly consume rice drinks and condiments, such as the Japanese population and those who follow health conscious diets based on the Japanese cuisine, could reach up to 23% of the World Health Organization's Provisional Tolerable Daily Intake of i-As, by only consuming these kinds of products. This study provides a wide appreciation of how i-As derived from rice based products enters the human diet and how this may be of concern to populations who are already exposed to high levels of i-As through consumption of foods such as rice and seaweed.

Survey of arsenic and its speciation in rice products such as breakfast cereals, rice crackers and Japanese rice condiments

Rice has been demonstrated to be one of the major contributors to arsenic (As) in human diets in addition to drinking water, but little is known about rice products as an additional source of As exposure. Rice products were analyzed for total As and a subset of samples were measured for arsenic speciation using high performance liquid chromatography interfaced with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS). A wide range of rice products had total and inorganic arsenic levels that typified those found in rice grain including, crisped rice, puffed rice, rice crackers, rice noodles and a range of Japanese rice condiments as well as rice products targeted at the macrobiotic, vegan, lactose intolerant and gluten intolerance food market. Most As in rice products are inorganic As (75.2-90.1%). This study provides a wider appreciation of how inorganic arsenic derived from rice products enters the human diet. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language and crossed finger localization in patients with schizophrenia

Language deficits are frequently reported in studies of patients with schizophrenia. The present study sought to test the hypothesis that such deficits are related to callosal function in this group. The FAS test of verbal fluency and Perin's Spoonerisms test of phonological processing were the tests of language. Callosal function was assessed using a Crossed Finger Localisation Test (CFLT), which is a measure of the interhemispheric transfer of somatosensory information. Patients with schizophrenia performed less well than controls on measures of language function. as well as on the CFLT. Significant positive correlations between CFLT performance and language function were present in the patient group, but not the control group. These findings extend on previous studies that report functional abnormalities of the corpus callosum in schizophrenia and are consistent with the hypothesis that language deficits in schizophrenia are related to impaired callosal functioning in this group. However, other explanations cannot be ruled Out.

Lateralisation of language function in young adults born very preterm

Objective: To explore, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the functional organisation of phonological processing in young adults born very preterm.

Subjects: Six right handed male subjects with radiological evidence of thinning of the corpus callosum were selected from a cohort of very preterm subjects. Six normal right handed male volunteers acted as controls.

Method: Blood oxygenation level dependent contrast echoplanar images were acquired over five minutes at 1.5 T while subjects performed the tasks. During the ON condition, subjects were visually presented with pairs of non-words and asked to press a key when a pair of words rhymed (phonological processing). This task alternated with the OFF condition, which required subjects to make letter case judgments of visually presented pairs of consonant letter strings (orthographic processing). Generic brain activation maps were constructed from individual images by sinusoidal regression and non-parametric testing. Between group differences in the mean power of experimental response were identified on a voxel wise basis by analysis of variance.

Results: Compared with controls, the subjects with thinning of the corpus callosum showed significantly reduced power of response in the left hemisphere, including the peristriate cortex and the cerebellum, as well as in the right parietal association area. Significantly increased power of response was observed in the right precentral gyrus and the right supplementary motor area.

Conclusions: The data show evidence of increased frontal and decreased occipital activation in male subjects with neurodevelopmental thinning of the corpus callosum, which may be due to the operation of developmental compensatory mechanisms.