Turning the tide: A critique of Natural Semantic Metalanguage from a translation studies perspective

Starting from the premise that human communication is predicated on translational phenomena, this paper applies theoretical insights and practical findings from Translation Studies to a critique of Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM), a theory of semantic analysis developed by Anna Wierzbicka. Key tenets of NSM, i.e. (1) culture-specificity of complex concepts; (2) the existence of a small set of universal semantic primes; and (3) definition by reductive paraphrase, are discussed critically with reference to the notions of untranslatability, equivalence, and intra-lingual translation, respectively. It is argued that a broad spectrum of research and theoretical reflection in Translation Studies may successfully feed into the study of cognition, meaning, language, and communication. The interdisciplinary exchange between Translation Studies and linguistics may be properly balanced, with the former not only being informed by but also informing and interrogating the latter.

Role of nitric oxide in maintenance of basal oral tissue blood flow in anesthetized cats

Experiments were undertaken to determine if nitric oxide (NO) plays a role in regulation of basal blood flow in the oral cavity of pentobarbital anesthetized cats and, if so, to quantify this effect using dose-response relationships. Blood flow was continuously measured from the surface of the tongue and mandibular gingiva (laser-Doppler flowmetry) and from the lingual artery (ultrasonic flowmetry). Cardiovascular parameters also were recorded. Administration of the nonselective inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), L-NAME (0.08-20 mg/kg i.v.), produced a dose-related increase of blood pressure associated with decreases of blood flow at all three measurement sites. Maximal blood flow depression of 50-60% was seen 30-60 min after administration of 1.25 mg/kg of L-NAME. D-NAME (1.25 mg/kg i.v.) was inactive at all sites. Subsequent administration of L-arginine partially reversed effects of L-NAME in the lingual artery and tongue, but not in the gingival circulation. The neuronally selective NOS inhibitor, 7-nitroindazole (7-NI, 30 mg/kg i.p.), was devoid of effect on any of the measured parameters. These results suggest that endothelial (but not neuronally derived) NO plays an important role in control of basal blood flow in oral tissues of the cat.

Politics without the Vernacular: Liberal Culturalism and the Language Policy of the European Union

Will Kymlicka's liberal culturalism presents a tension between the idea that linguistic diversity in multilingual polities should be protected and the claim that democratic debate across linguistic boundaries is unfeasible. In this article, I resolve that tension by arguing that trans-lingual democratic deliberation in multilingual polities is necessary to legitimise those measures aimed at the protection of linguistic diversity. I conclude that my account provides a coherent normative response to the challenges faced by the European Union (EU) in the field of language policy and that an EU-wide deliberative forum is not as unfeasible as Kymlicka suggests.

Desenvolvimento da linguagem na criança: hábitos orais e perturbações da fala

O tema desta investigação é a análise dos fatores de risco associados às perturbações da linguagem na criança, em particular, o estudo das relações entre hábitos orais, alterações orofaciais e perturbações da fala. Centra-se nas crianças com idades compreendidas entre os 3 e os 9 anos, para identificar o papel de hábitos orais (aleitamento materno, sucção da chupeta, do biberão, do dedo e da língua e onicofagia), tipo de respiração (oral, nasal e misto), alterações orofaciais (oclusão dentária, lábios, língua, palato e freio lingual) nas perturbações da linguagem da criança. A literatura indica que esses hábitos orais, ocorridos de modo prolongado nos primeiros anos de vida da criança, potencializam alterações orofaciais e constituem fatores de risco de determinados tipos de perturbações da fala. A amostra compreende 763 crianças portuguesas com perturbações da linguagem, avaliadas em consulta de terapia da fala, em instituições públicas e privadas, durante os anos de 2008 e 2009; e um grupo de controlo com 100 crianças sem perturbações da fala. A recolha de dados efetuou-se através do preenchimento de uma ficha de registo disponibilizada a cada terapeuta da fala envolvida no estudo. Os dados foram analisados através de estatística descritiva e inferencial. Os principais resultados apontam para a importância dos antecedentes familiares, da respiração oral, das alterações na língua, nos lábios e no palato enquanto fatores preditivos das perturbações da fala das crianças. Quanto à interferência nociva que os hábitos orais poderão ter no desenvolvimento e nas perturbações da linguagem da criança, os resultados não a confirmam. Estes dados contribuem para a intervenção e prevenção terapêuticas mais sustentadas nas perturbações da fala e apontam para a necessidade de maior investimento científico neste domínio.

A model for information retrieval driven by conceptual spaces

A retrieval model describes the transformation of a query into a set of documents. The question is: what drives this transformation? For semantic information retrieval type of models this transformation is driven by the content and structure of the semantic models. In this case, Knowledge Organization Systems (KOSs) are the semantic models that encode the meaning employed for monolingual and cross-language retrieval. The focus of this research is the relationship between these meanings’ representations and their role and potential in augmenting existing retrieval models effectiveness. The proposed approach is unique in explicitly interpreting a semantic reference as a pointer to a concept in the semantic model that activates all its linked neighboring concepts. It is in fact the formalization of the information retrieval model and the integration of knowledge resources from the Linguistic Linked Open Data cloud that is distinctive from other approaches. The preprocessing of the semantic model using Formal Concept Analysis enables the extraction of conceptual spaces (formal contexts)that are based on sub-graphs from the original structure of the semantic model. The types of conceptual spaces built in this case are limited by the KOSs structural relations relevant to retrieval: exact match, broader, narrower, and related. They capture the definitional and relational aspects of the concepts in the semantic model. Also, each formal context is assigned an operational role in the flow of processes of the retrieval system enabling a clear path towards the implementations of monolingual and cross-lingual systems. By following this model’s theoretical description in constructing a retrieval system, evaluation results have shown statistically significant results in both monolingual and bilingual settings when no methods for query expansion were used. The test suite was run on the Cross-Language Evaluation Forum Domain Specific 2004-2006 collection with additional extensions to match the specifics of this model.

Astringency and other oral sensations : biological sources of individual variation and association with food and beverage behaviour

Orosensory perception strongly influences liking and consumption of foods and beverages. This thesis examines the influence of biological sources of individual variation on the perception of prototypical orosensory stimuli, food liking, self-reported alcohol liking and consumption, and indices of health. Two orosensory indices were examined: propylthiouracil (PROP) responsiveness, a genetically-mediated index of individual variation associated with enhanced responsiveness to orosensory stimuli often expressed as PROP taster status (PTS); and thermal taster status (TTS), a recently reported index of orosensory responsiveness. Taster status in PTS and/or TTS confers greater responsiveness to most orosensory stimuli. Gender, age, ethnicity, and fungiform papillae (FP) density were not associated with orosensory responsiveness to tastants, an astringent, and a flavour. Unlike PROP responsiveness, FP density was not associated with TTS. Both PROP responsiveness and TTS were associated with increased responsiveness to orosensory stimuli, including temperature and astringency. For PROP, this association did not hold when stimuli were presented at cold or warm temperatures, which are ecologically valid since most foods and beverages are not consumed at ambient temperature. Thermal tasters (TTs), who perceive 'phantom' taste sensations with lingual thermal stimulation, were more responsive to stimuli at both temperatures than thermal non-tasters (TnTs). While PTS, TIS, and gender affected self-reported liking and consumption of some alcoholic beverages, gender associated with the greatest number of beverage types and consumption parameters, with males generally liking and consuming alcoholic beverages more than females. Age and gender were the best predictors of alcoholic beverageAiking and consumption. As expected, .. liking of bitter and fatty foods and cream was inversely related to PROP responsiveness. TTS did not associate with body mass index or waist circumference, and contrary to previous studies, neither did PROP responsiveness. Taken together, TnTs' greater liking of cooked fruits and vegetables and high alcohol, and astringent alcoholic beverages than TTs suggests differences between TTS groups may be driven by perceived temperature and texture. Neither an interaction between PTS and TTS nor a TTS effect on PROP responsiveness was observed, suggesting these two indices of individual variation exert their influences on orosensory perception independently.

Un oeil sur la langue : aspects neuro-cognitifs du processus de la navigation chez l'aveugle-né

La vision est un élément très important pour la navigation en général. Grâce à des mécanismes compensatoires les aveugles de naissance ne sont pas handicapés dans leurs compétences spatio-cognitives, ni dans la formation de nouvelles cartes spatiales. Malgré l’essor des études sur la plasticité du cerveau et la navigation chez les aveugles, les substrats neuronaux compensatoires pour la préservation de cette fonction demeurent incompris. Nous avons démontré récemment (article 1) en utilisant une technique d’analyse volumétrique (Voxel-Based Morphometry) que les aveugles de naissance (AN) montrent une diminution de la partie postérieure de l’hippocampe droit, structure cérébrale importante dans la formation de cartes spatiales. Comment les AN forment-ils des cartes cognitives de leur environnement avec un hippocampe postérieur droit qui est significativement réduit ? Pour répondre à cette question nous avons choisi d’exploiter un appareil de substitution sensorielle qui pourrait potentiellement servir à la navigation chez les AN. Cet appareil d’affichage lingual (Tongue display unit -TDU-) retransmet l’information graphique issue d’une caméra sur la langue. Avant de demander à nos sujets de naviguer à l’aide du TDU, il était nécessaire de nous assurer qu’ils pouvaient « voir » des objets dans l’environnement grâce au TDU. Nous avons donc tout d’abord évalué l’acuité « visuo »-tactile (article 2) des sujets AN pour les comparer aux performances des voyants ayant les yeux bandées et munis du TDU. Ensuite les sujets ont appris à négocier un chemin à travers un parcours parsemé d’obstacles i (article 3). Leur tâche consistait à pointer vers (détection), et contourner (négociation) un passage autour des obstacles. Nous avons démontré que les sujets aveugles de naissance non seulement arrivaient à accomplir cette tâche, mais encore avaient une performance meilleure que celle des voyants aux yeux bandés, et ce, malgré l’atrophie structurelle de l’hippocampe postérieur droit, et un système visuel atrophié (Ptito et al., 2008). Pour déterminer quels sont les corrélats neuronaux de la navigation, nous avons créé des routes virtuelles envoyées sur la langue par le biais du TDU que les sujets devaient reconnaitre alors qu’ils étaient dans un scanneur IRMf (article 4). Nous démontrons grâce à ces techniques que les aveugles utilisent un autre réseau cortical impliqué dans la mémoire topographique que les voyants quand ils suivent des routes virtuelles sur la langue. Nous avons mis l’emphase sur des réseaux neuronaux connectant les cortex pariétaux et frontaux au lobe occipital puisque ces réseaux sont renforcés chez les aveugles de naissance. Ces résultats démontrent aussi que la langue peut être utilisée comme une porte d’entrée vers le cerveau en y acheminant des informations sur l’environnement visuel du sujet, lui permettant ainsi d’élaborer des stratégies d’évitement d’obstacles et de se mouvoir adéquatement.

Los métodos de enseñanza en ELE : el método comunicativo revisado

Cette étude se focalise sur la révision de l’approche communicative des manuels d’enseignement de l’espagnol comme langue étrangère (ELE) et, plus particulièrement, sur celle des manuels utilisés dans les institutions scolaires du Québec. D’un point de vue historique, les premières inquiétudes liées à l’enseignement et à l’acquisition de langues secondes sont apparues dans l’Antiquité. Pendant des siècles, l’enseignement fondé sur la répétition de structures a prédominé, mais une fois le Moyen Âge passé, d’autres avancées pédagogiques sont nées. Par exemple, au XVIIe siècle, des études sur la question, inspirées de penseurs comme Montaigne et Locke, ont révélé que l’apprentissage formel de la langue n’était pas utile et que les apprenants avaient besoin d’une motivation pour apprendre. Le XXe siècle a été caractérisé par le déploiement de propositions méthodologiques à utiliser dans l’enseignement de langues secondes, et c’est ainsi que des méthodes telles que Directe, Audio-linguistique, Apprentissage communautaire de la langue et Approche naturelle ont surgi. Au milieu du XXe siècle s’est développée en Europe une proposition basée sur les besoins communicatifs des étudiants et ce qui, au début, était connu comme l’approche notionnelle fonctionnelle a évolué et est devenu l’enseignement communicatif. Une telle approche concerne essentiellement l’usage de la langue et accorde moins d’importance aux connaissances linguistiques. Elle a pour objectif principal que l’étudiant-parlant développe des habiletés interprétatives et expressives de la langue objet. En nous appuyant sur un cadre théorique de l’enseignement des langues et en analysant les manuels Nuevo ELE, Prisma et Español en marcha (niveaux A1-B2), nous prétendons vérifier la présence de l’approche communicative dans ces manuels afin de pouvoir démontrer que dans les activités dites communicatives, il y a différentes applications possibles des méthodes traditionnelles de l’enseignement de langues secondes et que, par conséquent, l’approche communicative réunit plusieurs propositions qui proviennent d’autres méthodes. Mot-clés : Espagnol langue étrangère (ELE), approche communicative, analyse de manuels, Nuevo ELE, Prisma, Español en marcha.

Une évaluation de la dimension de la lumière de boîtiers 0,018" provenant de quatre différents manufacturiers. Existe-t-il un standard dans l’industrie?

Introduction: The objective of this experimental research was to evaluate the slot’s vertical dimension and profile of four different 0.018″ self-ligating brackets and to identify the level of tolerance accepted by manufacturers during the fabrication process. It was then possible to calculate and compare the torque play of those brackets using the measured values and the nominal values. Material and Methods: Twenty-five 0.018″ self-ligating brackets of upper left central incisors from the following manufacturers, Speed® (Strite Industries, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada), InOvationR® (GAC, Bohemia, NY, USA), CarriereLX® (Ortho Organizers, Carlsbad, CA, USA) and SmartClip® (3M Unitek, Monrovia, CA, USA), were evaluated using electron microscopy with 150X images. The height of each bracket was measured at every 100 microns of depth from the lingual wall at five different levels. A Student T test was then used to compare our results with the manufacturer’s stated value of 0.018″. To determine if there was a significant difference between the four manufacturers, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed at the significance level of p<0.05. The torque play was then calculated using geometrical formulas. Results: On average, Speed brackets were oversized by 2.7%[MV 0.0185″ (SD:0.002)], InOvationR by 3.7% [MV 0.0187″ (SD:0.002)], CarriereLX by 3.2% [MV 0.0186″ (SD:0.002)] and SmartClipSL by 5.0% [MV 0.0189″ (SD:0.002)]. The height of all brackets was significantly higher than the nominal value of 0.018″ (p<0.001). The slot of SmartClip brackets was significantly larger than those of the other three manufacturers (p<0.001). None of the brackets studied had parallel gingival and occlusal walls; some were convergent and others divergent. These variations can induce a torque play up to 4.5 degrees with a 0.017″x0.025″ wire and 8.0 degrees with a 0.016″x0.022″ wire. Conclusion: All studied brackets were oversized. None of the brackets studied had parallel gingival and occlusal walls and there was no standard between manufacturers for the geometry of their slots. These variations can cause a slight increase of the torque play between the wire and the bracket compared with the nominal value.

Tumor de células granulares en lengua (tumor de Abrikossoff): reporte de caso

El tumor de células granulares (tumor de Abrikossoff) es una neoplasia benigna en un 98% de casos. Su presentación es escasa y la estirpe celular del tumor es controvertida; sin embargo, la detección positiva de proteína S-100 sugiere un origen neural. Se reporta el caso de una paciente de 16 años de edad con diagnóstico histopatológico de tumor de células granulares en el estudio de espécimen de resección quirúrgica de nódulo lingual.

Tratamiento de la disfagia y la disglosia tras glosectom??a total y reconstrucci??n con colgajo libre fasciocut??neo anterolateral de muslo : a prop??sito de un caso

Resumen basado en el de la publicaci??n

Universal Museum - universal language? Art historian - curator

Marshal McLuhan’s prophetic vision of the global village is about to be realized. If we are aware of the fact that mass communication reduces the dimensions of our world and makes it more unified and universal, we should take this into consideration when planning the Universal Museum and the language that should be used in it. As curators, educators and museum staff we should not ignore the fact that the spectator/viewer is drawn to the exhibits not only by their own merit, but also guided and assisted by verbal messages, i. e. Labels, brochures. Catalogues etc. Hence, the crucial question is what we, the museologists, use as a means of communication when preparing for a Universal Museum. Should we use pictorial semiotics? This may be a partial solution, which is mainly restricted to objects that can be manipulated and moved by the visitor, as is the case in most of the technological museums. But since the range of objects on display at museums is vast and varied - fine art, archaeological finds, ethnographic objects etc., it may not be the answer to the whole spectrum of exhibits. Dr. Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof, being an optimist, hoped that by introducing Esperanto to the multi-lingual world population, humanity would be able to bridge and diminish the gap of linguistic differences, thus creating a better understanding between the international communities. Unfortunately this vision was not realized. Esperanto was and still is an utopian and esoteric phenomenon. The barriers between nations still exist although, as mentioned earlier, mass media do help, in some ways, to reduce them.

A proposed plan for using Dr. Marie Carbo's tape-recorded books to improve word recognition skills in children with cochlear implants

This paper studies the effectiveness of the recorded books and teaching method developed by Dr. Marie Carbo in the aural habilitation of pre-lingual deaf children with cochlear implants.

How level and type of deafness affects user perception of multimedia video clips

Our research investigates the impact that hearing has on the perception of digital video clips, with and without captions, by discussing how hearing loss, captions and deafness type affects user QoP (Quality of Perception). QoP encompasses not only a user's satisfaction with the quality of a multimedia presentation, but also their ability to analyse, synthesise and assimilate informational content of multimedia . Results show that hearing has a significant effect on participants’ ability to assimilate information, independent of video type and use of captions. It is shown that captions do not necessarily provide deaf users with a ‘greater level of information’ from video, but cause a change in user QoP, depending on deafness type, which provides a ‘greater level of context of the video’. It is also shown that post-lingual mild and moderately deaf participants predict less accurately their level of information assimilation than post-lingual profoundly deaf participants, despite residual hearing. A positive correlation was identified between level of enjoyment (LOE) and self-predicted level of information assimilation (PIA), independent of hearing level or hearing type. When this is considered in a QoP quality framework, it puts into question how the user perceives certain factors, such as ‘informative’ and ‘quality’.