scholarly journals Does pragmatic beat syntax? Evidence from focus accent placement in the semi-spontaneous speech of Italian learners of German

2018 ◽  
Vol 93 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Vogt ◽  
Peter Paschke
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Intermediate Stage ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Data Types ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Initial Hypothesis ◽  
Better Than

In this paper, we investigate the prosodic marking of information structure by Italian L1 learners of German. We analyze two different contexts with non-final focus accents, i. e. narrow and broad focus contexts, mainly on sentence level while most studies discussing post-focal de-accentuation are restricted to noun phrases. For Italian learners, non-final placement of focus accents is likely to cause problems, given that in their L1, phonetic prominence is normally as-signed to the last constituent in the verbal phrase. Our initial hypothesis was that the hypothetical "cognitive universal" requiring de-accentuation of given elements might probably guide the learners in realizing the correct pitch contour in contexts with a non-final narrow focus (and pragmatic de-accentuation of the final given constituent). By contrast, the de-accentuation of phrase-final lexical verbs in broad focus contexts was expected to cause more problems given that this typologically marked syntactic structure does not exist in Italian. However, in a previous study based on read speech, de-accentuation of final given elements was managed by inter-mediate Italian learners of German L2 only slightly better than realizing a non-final focus accent in all new contexts on the argument in OV structures (success rate of 55% vs. 48%, with no statistically significant difference). In other words, both types of non-final focus accents seem to be balanced at this intermediate stage of acquisition. In this contribution, our goal is to discover whether in semi-spontaneous speech one can find the same distributional patterns of non-final focus accents in this learner variety of Italian learners of German. To this end, we analyzed recordings of oral exams from the same 10 Italian university students that had taken part in the previous study. The analysis shows that in semi-spontaneous speech production too, there is evidence for the hypothesis that pragmatics does not "beat" syntax in prosodic acquisition. Besides, when the two different data types were compared, a very high intra-speaker correlation emerged between read and semi-spontaneous speech.

scholarly journals The Role of Prosody and Morphology in the Mapping of Information Structure onto Syntax

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 207
Author(s):  
Laura Colantoni ◽  
Liliana Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Extreme Values ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Information Value ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Level Information ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Agglutinative Languages ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence

The mapping of information structure onto morphology or intonation varies greatly crosslinguistically. Agglutinative languages, like Inuktitut or Quechua, have a rich morphological layer onto which discourse-level features are mapped but a limited use of intonation. Instead, English or Spanish lack grammaticalized morphemes that convey discourse-level information but use intonation to a relatively large extent. We propose that the difference found in these two pairs of languages follows from a division of labor across language modules, such that two extreme values of the continuum of possible interactions across modules are available as well as combinations of morphological and intonational markers. At one extreme, in languages such as Inuktitut and Quechua, a rich set of morphemes with scope over constituents convey sentence-level and discourse-level distinctions, making the alignment of intonational patterns and information structure apparently redundant. At the other extreme, as in English and to some extent Spanish, a series of consistent alignments of PF and syntactic structure are required to distinguish sentence types and to determine the information value of a constituent. This results in a complementary distribution of morphology and intonation in these languages. In contact situations, overlap between patterns of module interaction are attested. Evidence from Quechua–Spanish and Inuktitut–English bilinguals supports a bidirectionality of crosslinguistic influence; intonational patterns emerge in non-intonational languages to distinguish sentence types, whereas morphemes or discourse particles emerge in intonational languages to mark discourse-level features.

Transplantation of coral fragment, Acropora formosa (Scleractinia)

2014 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Hanny Tioho ◽  
Maykel A.J Karauwan
Keyword(s):  
Fragment Size ◽  
Observation Time ◽  
Minimum Size ◽  
Average Growth Rate ◽  
Average Growth ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Acropora Formosa ◽  
Survival And Growth ◽  
One Way Anova ◽  
Better Than

The minimum size of coral transplants, Acropora formosa, was assessed to support their survival and growth. For this, 150 coral fragments of different sizes (5, 10, 15 cm) were transplanted close to the donor colony. Their survivorship and growth were observed for 12 months. At the end of the observation time, 90% of 15 cm-transplanted coral fragments survived, while the others (10cm and 5 cm) did 86% and 82% respectively. The average growth rate of 5 cm-coral fragments was 0.860 cm/month, while 10 and 15 cm-fragments were 0.984 cm/month and 1.108 cm/month respectively. One-way ANOVA showed that there was significant difference (p<0.05) among the three (5, 10, 15 cm) transplant initial sizes in which the longest fragment size tended to survive longer than the smaller one.  However, the smaller transplants grew better than the bigger one, 10.318 cm/year (206%) for 5 cm-transplant, 11.803 cm/year (118%) for 10 cm-transplant, and 13.299 cm/year (89%) for 15 cm-transplant, respectively. Ukuran minimal fragmen karang Acropora formosa yang ditransplantasi diduga untuk mendukung ketahanan hidup dan pertumbuhannya. Untuk itu, 150 fragmen karang ditransplantasi ke lokasi yang berdekatan dengan koloni induknya.  Ketahanan hidup dan pertumbuhan semua fragmen karang yang ditransplantasi diamati selama 12 bulan.  Pada akhir pengamatan, 90% dari fragmen karang berukuran 15 cm yang ditransplantasi dapat bertahan hidup, sedangkan yang lainnya (ukuran 10 cm dan 5 cm) masing-masing sebesar 86% dan 82%.  Rata-rata laju pertumbuhan fragmen karang dengan ukuran awal 5 cm adalah 0,860 cm/bulan, sedangkan ukuran fragmen 10 dan 15 cm masing-masing adalah 0,984 cm/bulan and 1,108 cm/bulan. ANOVA satu arah menunjukkan adanya perbedaan yang nyata (p<0.05) antara ketiga ukuran fragmen yang berbeda, di mana ukuran fragmen karang yang lebih panjang cenderung mempunyai ketahanan hidup yang lebih baik. Namun demikian, ukuran transplant yang lebih kecil memiliki pertumbuhan lebih baik dibandingkan dengan ukuran yang lebih besar, yakni10,318 cm/tahun (206%) untuk transplant berukuran 5 cm, 11,803 cm/tahun (118%) untuk 10 cm, dan 13,299 cm/tahun (89%) untuk ukuran 15 cm.

Isolation of an Anti-fatigue Preparation from Cellulase-treated Maca by Hydroalcoholic Extraction

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-98
Author(s):  
Zheng Yue ◽  
Zhang Wen-Cheng ◽  
Wu Ze-Yu ◽  
Fu Chuan-Xiang ◽  
Gao Han ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Positive Control ◽  
Glycogen Storage ◽  
Hepatic Glycogen ◽  
Time To Exhaustion ◽  
High Dose ◽  
Hydroalcoholic Extract ◽  
Swimming Time ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Pre Treatment ◽  
Better Than

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the anti-fatigue activity of maca hydroalcoholic extract (ME), which mainly contains macamides and polysaccharides. ME was prepared by circumfluence extraction with enzymatic pre-treatment. Anti-fatigue activity of ME was investigated in weight-loaded forced swimming mice, with pure macamides and commercially available maca tablet as positive control. Compared with normal group, pure macamides treatment group could prolong the swimming time to exhaustion, but there was no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05); while ME (middle-dose and high-dose groups) could effectively prolong the swimming durations (P < 0.05). Supplementation with pure macamides significantly decreased blood lactic acid (BLA), whereas ME significantly increased hepatic glycogen (HG), decreased BLA, and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) compared with those in normal control (P < 0.05). The results suggested that the anti-fatigue effect of ME was better than that of pure macamides, which can be explained by the increase of glycogen storage and the reduction of metabolites accumulation.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF ADOLESCENTS WITH REFERENCE TO GENDER

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (24) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nisha Chandel ◽  
Seema Chopra
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Female Adolescents ◽  
Intelligence Scale ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Male Adolescents ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Understanding Emotions ◽  
School Records ◽  
Better Than

The present study was undertaken to find out emotional intelligence and academic achievement of male and female adolescents. The sample consists of 82 students( 41 male and 41 female adolescents) from different schools in Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh. Emotional intelligence was assessed with the help of Emotional Intelligence Scale developed by Singh and Narain (2014) and academic achievement score were taken from the school records. The results revealed that there exists a significant difference in emotional intelligence of male and female adolescents. It was found that there existed significant difference in academic achievement of female adolescents and male adolescents. The mean emotional intelligence of female adolescents was better than of male adolescents. On the dimensions of emotional intelligence, it was found that there was no significant difference between male and female adolescents on understanding emotions, empathy and handling relations dimensions of emotional intelligence; while it was reported that there was significant difference between male and female adolescents on understanding motivation dimension of emotional intelligence On the other hand, it was found that there existed significant difference in academic achievement of female adolescents and male adolescents.

scholarly journals Integrated Bimodal Fitting for Unilateral CI Users with Residual Contralateral Hearing

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-206
Author(s):  
Gennaro Auletta ◽  
Annamaria Franzè ◽  
Carla Laria ◽  
Carmine Piccolo ◽  
Carmine Papa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Performance Difference ◽  
Test Conditions ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Noisy Conditions ◽  
New Formula ◽  
Better Than

Background: The aim of this study was to compare, in users of bimodal cochlear implants, the performance obtained using their own hearing aids (adjusted with the standard NAL-NL1 fitting formula) with the performance using the Phonak Naìda Link Ultra Power hearing aid adjusted with both NAL-NL1 and a new bimodal system (Adaptive Phonak Digital Bimodal (APDB)) developed by Advanced Bionics and Phonak Corporations. Methods: Eleven bimodal users (Naìda CI Q70 + contralateral hearing aid) were enrolled in our study. The users’ own hearing aids were replaced with the Phonak Naìda Link Ultra Power and fitted following the new formula. Speech intelligibility was assessed in quiet and noisy conditions, and comparisons were made with the results obtained with the users’ previous hearing aids and with the Naída Link hearing aids fitted with the NAL-NL1 generic prescription formula. Results: Using Phonak Naìda Link Ultra Power hearing aids with the Adaptive Phonak Digital Bimodal fitting formula, performance was significantly better than that with the users’ own rehabilitation systems, especially in challenging hearing situations for all analyzed subjects. Conclusions: Speech intelligibility tests in quiet settings did not reveal a significant difference in performance between the new fitting formula and NAL-NL1 fittings (using the Naída Link hearing aids), whereas the performance difference between the two fittings was very significant in noisy test conditions.

A Set-theoretic Approach to Reasoning Services for the Description Logic 𝒟 ℒ D 4,×

2020 ◽  
Vol 176 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 349-384
Author(s):  
Domenico Cantone ◽  
Marianna Nicolosi-Asmundo ◽  
Daniele Francesco Santamaria
Keyword(s):  
Description Logic ◽  
Description Logics ◽  
Theoretic Approach ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Data Types ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Rule Languages ◽  
Tableau System ◽  
High Scalability ◽  
Better Than

In this paper we consider the most common TBox and ABox reasoning services for the description logic 𝒟ℒ〈4LQSR,x〉(D) ( 𝒟 ℒ D 4,× , for short) and prove their decidability via a reduction to the satisfiability problem for the set-theoretic fragment 4LQSR. 𝒟 ℒ D 4,× is a very expressive description logic. It combines the high scalability and efficiency of rule languages such as the SemanticWeb Rule Language (SWRL) with the expressivity of description logics. In fact, among other features, it supports Boolean operations on concepts and roles, role constructs such as the product of concepts and role chains on the left-hand side of inclusion axioms, role properties such as transitivity, symmetry, reflexivity, and irreflexivity, and data types. We further provide a KE-tableau-based procedure that allows one to reason on the main TBox and ABox reasoning tasks for the description logic 𝒟 ℒ D 4,× . Our algorithm is based on a variant of the KE-tableau system for sets of universally quantified clauses, where the KE-elimination rule is generalized in such a way as to incorporate the γ-rule. The novel system, called KEγ-tableau, turns out to be an improvement of the system introduced in [1] and of standard first-order KE-tableaux [2]. Suitable benchmark test sets executed on C++ implementations of the three mentioned systems show that in several cases the performances of the KEγ-tableau-based reasoner are up to about 400% better than the ones of the other two systems.

Perception of Word Junctures by Children

1995 ◽  
Vol 80 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1075-1082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore De Marco ◽  
Roxanne M. Harrell
Keyword(s):  
Age Groups ◽  
Relative Magnitude ◽  
Young Group ◽  
Sentence Context ◽  
Linguistic Context ◽  
Top Down ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Meaningful Context ◽  
Better Than

A comparative study was undertaken to assess the relative magnitude of the effects of linguistic context on the perception of word-juncture boundaries in 30 young school-aged children, 30 older school-aged children, and 30 adults. Minimally contrasted two-word phrases differing in word-juncture boundaries were embedded in a meaningful sentence context, nonmeaningful sentence context, and in neutral phrase context. Groups performed similarly in the neutral phrase context, and two older groups performed better than the young group in the meaningful context. The poorest performances occurred during the nonmeaningful context, with a significant difference among age groups. Heavier reliance upon top-down processing and less developed linguistic and metalinguistic competence may account for the observed differences among groups.

Early emergence of syntactic awareness and cross-linguistic influence in bilingual children’s judgments

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 521-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra Foursha-Stevenson ◽  
Elena Nicoladis
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Preschool Age ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Metalinguistic Awareness ◽  
Syntactic Awareness ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
French And English ◽  
Better Than

Bilingual children sometimes perform better than same-aged monolingual children on metalinguistic awareness tasks, such as a grammaticality judgment. Some of these differences can be attributed to bilinguals having to learn to control attention to language choice. This study tested the hypothesis that bilingual children, as young as preschool age, would score overall higher than monolingual children on a grammaticality judgment test. French–English bilingual preschoolers judged the acceptability of three constructions in French and English (i.e. adjective–noun ordering, obligatoriness of a determiner, and object pronoun placement). Their performance was compared with that of a group of age-matched English monolinguals. The results showed that the bilingual children scored higher than the monolingual children. These results demonstrate that syntactic awareness develops quite early for bilinguals. Additionally, the bilingual children demonstrated cross-linguistic influence of core syntactic structure in French, as their judgments were affected by English acceptability.

Deep Case, Text Surface, and Information Structure

1978 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunnel Källgren
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Textual Cohesion ◽  
Important Notion ◽  
Theoretical Apparatus ◽  
Empirical Analyses

This article is an attempt at combining sentence level and text level by similar means of analysis, based on a DEEP CASE MODEL. Tentative lists of DEEP CASES and TEXTUAL RELATIONS are given and discussed.The theoretical apparatus has been developed through empirical analyses of important notion of LINK FAMILY is introduced. The ultimate goal of this type of analysis is to find the INFORMATION STRUCTURE of texts, but its connections wiht e.g. “pure” TEXTUAL COHESION are also treated.

scholarly journals PNA Predictability at Various Time Scales

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (22) ◽  
pp. 9090-9114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waqar Younas ◽  
Youmin Tang
Keyword(s):  
Time Scales ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Prediction Skill ◽  
Multiple Model ◽  
Coupled Models ◽  
Potential Predictability ◽  
Effective Measure ◽  
Dispersion Component ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Better Than

Abstract In this study, the predictability of the Pacific–North American (PNA) pattern is evaluated on time scales from days to months using state-of-the-art dynamical multiple-model ensembles including the Canadian Historical Forecast Project (HFP2) ensemble, the Development of a European Multimodel Ensemble System for Seasonal-to-Interannual Prediction (DEMETER) ensemble, and the Ensemble-Based Predictions of Climate Changes and their Impacts (ENSEMBLES). Some interesting findings in this study include (i) multiple-model ensemble (MME) skill was better than most of the individual models; (ii) both actual prediction skill and potential predictability increased as the averaging time scale increased from days to months; (iii) there is no significant difference in actual skill between coupled and uncoupled models, in contrast with the potential predictability where coupled models performed better than uncoupled models; (iv) relative entropy (REA) is an effective measure in characterizing the potential predictability of individual prediction, whereas the mutual information (MI) is a reliable indicator of overall prediction skill; and (v) compared with conventional potential predictability measures of the signal-to-noise ratio, the MI-based measures characterized more potential predictability when the ensemble spread varied over initial conditions. Further analysis found that the signal component dominated the dispersion component in REA for PNA potential predictability from days to seasons. Also, the PNA predictability is highly related to the signal of the tropical sea surface temperature (SST), and SST–PNA correlation patterns resemble the typical ENSO structure, suggesting that ENSO is the main source of PNA seasonal predictability. The predictable component analysis (PrCA) of atmospheric variability further confirmed the above conclusion; that is, PNA is one of the most predictable patterns in the climate variability over the Northern Hemisphere, which originates mainly from the ENSO forcing.

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