bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Clausius–Clapeyron Scaling of Peak CAPE in Continental Convective Storm Environments
Authors: Agard Vince , Emanuel Kerry
Published: July 2017

A thermodynamic constraint on convective available potential energy (CAPE) in continental environments is established using an idealized one-dimensional model. This theoretical model simplifies the synoptic-scale preconditioning framework for continental severe convection by considering a dry adiabatic column that comes into contact with a moist land surface. A system of equations is derived to describe the evolution of the ensuing surface boundary layer. From these, the maximum value of transient CAPE in the column can be found for any particular combination of surface temperature and moisture. It is demonstrated that, for a given range of surface temperatures, the value of peak CAPE scales with the Clausius–Clapeyron relation.
Investigating the Impact of CO2 on Low-Frequency Variability of the AMOC in HadCM3
Authors: Armstrong Edward , Valdes Paul , House Jo , Singarayer Joy
Published: July 2017

This study investigates the impact of CO2 on the amplitude, frequency, and mechanisms of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) variability in millennial simulations of the HadCM3 coupled climate model. Multichannel singular spectrum analysis (MSSA) and empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) are applied to the AMOC at four quasi-equilibrium CO2 forcings. The amount of variance explained by the first and second eigenmodes appears to be small (i.e., 11.19%); however, the results indicate that both AMOC strength and variability weaken at higher CO2 concentrations. This accompanies an apparent shift from a predominant 100–125-yr cycle at 350 ppm to 160 yr at 1400 ppm. Changes in amplitude are shown to feed back onto the atmosphere. Variability may be linked to salinity-driven density changes in the Greenland–Iceland–Norwegian Seas, fueled by advection of anomalies predominantly from the Arctic and Caribbean regions. A positive density anomaly accompanies a decrease in stratification and an increase in convection and Ekman pumping, generating a strong phase of the AMOC (and vice versa). Arctic anomalies may be generated via an internal ocean mode that may be key in driving variability and are shown to weaken at higher CO2, possibly driving the overall reduction in amplitude. Tropical anomalies may play a secondary role in modulating variability and are thought to be more influential at higher CO2, possibly due to an increased residence time in the subtropical gyre and/or increased surface runoff driven by simulated dieback of the Amazon rain forest. These results indicate that CO2 may not only weaken AMOC strength but also alter the mechanisms that drive variability, both of which have implications for climate change on multicentury time scales.
The Impact of Improved Thermistor Calibration on the Expendable Bathythermograph Profile Data
Authors: Goes Marlos , Babcock Elizabeth , Bringas Francis , Ortner Peter , Goni Gustavo
Published: July 2017

Expendable bathythermograph (XBT) data provide one of the longest available records of upper-ocean temperature. However, temperature and depth biases in XBT data adversely affect estimates of long-term trends of ocean heat content and, to a lesser extent, estimates of volume and heat transport in the ocean. Several corrections have been proposed to overcome historical biases in XBT data, which rely on constantly monitoring these biases. This paper provides an analysis of data collected during three recent hydrographic cruises that utilized different types of probes, and examines methods to reduce temperature and depth biases by improving the thermistor calibration and reducing the mass variability of the XBT probes.

The results obtained show that the use of individual thermistor calibration in XBT probes is the most effective calibration to decrease the thermal bias, improving the mean thermal bias to less than 0.02°C and its tolerance from 0.1° to 0.03°C. The temperature variance of probes with screened thermistors is significantly reduced by approximately 60% in comparison to standard probes. On the other hand, probes with a tighter weight tolerance did not show statistically significant reductions in the spread of depth biases, possibly because of the small sample size or the sensitivity of the depth accuracy to other causes affecting the analysis.
India's Trade Relations with China and Russia in the Context of WTO
Authors: Bhattacharjea Aditya
Published: July 2017

Trade between China and India has grown rapidly in recent years, and has received a further political impetus from the visit of the Chinese premier to India in April. After briefly summarising the relevant sections of the Report of the Joint Study Group on Comprehensive Trade and Economic Cooperation that was set up by the two governments, this essay examines two issues that deserve greater attention. First, the use of anti-dumping duties by India against imports from China and Russia in the context of both being treated as non-market economies; second, a possible Free Trade Agreement between India and China. The essay concludes that there are strong economic and political arguments for improving bilateral trade and communications and for modifying anti-dumping procedures, but the case for a bilateral FTA is not that strong.
On Teething in Infancy
Authors: Horst Ronald L. Van Der
Published: July 2017

In a recent interview on the subject of teething in infancy, new opinions have been proposed to explain the mystery and myth that surrounds this subject.1 This paper presents a summary of these views, many of which are being published for the first time.
The National Association for Gifted Children Takes Pleasure in Announcing the Fourth Annual Essay Contest for Teachers
Authors: Isaacs Ann F.
Published: July 2017

Many answers might be suggested as possible solutions to the problem of why gifted do not achieve as they might. It is known that some boys and girls feel they are more accepted if they are just one of the gang. Others, because of the grades that they have been accorded, have no insight into their real talents. At one time researchers indicated that teachers could recognize the gifted child in fifteen per cent of the cases. More recently, it has been estimated teachers can identify gifted in forty per cent of the cases. It is heartening to see the improvement in teachers judgment. This no doubt refiects the increased interest and sensitivity to the existence of the gifted child in the classroom. In addition, parents play a role in the child's aspirations. It is evident that many factors influence the child's desire or lack of desire to do his best. It would be helpful to all of us who work with gifted if some new insights could be gained along these lines. We hope that teachers everywhere will want to share their ideas with us.
A Longitudinal Examination of the Fourth Grade Slump in Creativity
Authors: Torrance E. Paul
Published: July 2017

From September 1959 to May 1964 the children enrolled in a university and a public elementary school were tested each year with a battery of tests of creative thinking. Relatively complete data were obtained for 350 children. A random sample of 100 cases was drawn from this pool for further analysis. All raw scores were converted to standard or T-scores based on fifth grade comparison group norms.

The results showed that when studied longitudinally, there are statistically significant slumps in fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration. Although from 45 to 61 percent of the subjects showed significant slumps (losses of five or more standard score points), there were a few who showed significant increases ranging from 11 percent on fluency to 38 percent on elaboration. There is a general recovery trend in the fifth grade but from 16 to 29 percent show decreases of five or more standard score points between the third and fifth grades. Many children end up with lower scores in the fifth grade than they attained in the third grade. The proportion ranges from 21 percent on elaboration to 52 percent on fluency. In general there is the strongest tendency for growth in elaboration and the weakest In fluency.
A Study into the Effect of Competition on Creativity
Authors: Raina M.K.
Published: July 2017

The present investigation was designed to study the effect of competition on ideational fluency and flexibility. A sample of 40 students - 20 in Experimental and 20 in the Control Group matched for intelligence, age, class and creativity was used. Both the Groups were administered Test of Imagination (Product Improvement and Unusual Uses) and the results showed that the Experimental Group in this and under the conditions of this study differed significantly In the mean number of ideas and flexibility of ideas. The ratio between the means of the two groups for Fluency and Flexibility was 4.30 and 5.43 respectively, significant at .01 level of confidence. The replication of this study was also suggested on large and different samples.
In Search of the Creative Personality Among Gifted Groups
Authors: Halpin W. Gerald , Payne David A. , Ellett Chad D.
Published: July 2017

The concept of giftedness has been expanded to include not only those individuals with a high intelligence quotient but also those who score high on measures of creativity (Torrance, 1962; Getzels and Jackson, 1962). Gowan (1971) has recently underscored the relationship between creativity and giftedness. Our knowledge however, concerning the differences in creativity among individuals gifted in various academic and artistic areas is limited. It is the purpose of this study to determine if adolescents gifted in the areas of mathematics, science, English, foreign language, social science, drama, music, and art do differ in their creative personalities.
Attitudes Toward Mentally Gifted Learners
Authors: Smidchens Uldis , Sellin Donald
Published: July 2017

This study involved the responses of 116 graduate students in education toward attitudes about mentally gifted learners. Attitude was defined as three behaviors: support for services, teachers of, and interaction of one's own normal child. Correlates of attitude were defined as sex, curriculum preparation, previous experience, and perceived traits of the gifted. The study reports the relative effects of these factors, and recommends the need for special training and services for regular classroom teachers.
Career Education for Gifted Pre-Adolescents
Authors: Fox Lynn H.
Published: July 2017

Most children have very few opportunities to learn about the world of work, especially about professional careers that are not highly visible to the public. Intellectually gifted studnts are as likely to need career education and counseling as are less academically oriented students. The type of career education they require will be different, however. Yet, few programs have considered that problem.

In this paper a career awareness program developed by the Intellectually Gifted Child Study Group at The Johns Hopkins University and pilot-tested in Baltimore City Public Schools is described. This program was unique in its efforts to combine the teaching of fasic skills and mathematical concepts not typically included in the general elementary school curriculums with exposure of the students to professional mathematicians in small-group situations.

The pilot program consisted of four mini-courses, one each in geometry, statistics, probability, and computer science. Twenty-four fourth, fifth and sixth grade students (12 boys and 12 girls) participated.

The reactions to the program from students and parents were very favorable. A study of what the children actually learned from the courses was conducted. The program proved to be effective in teaching mathematical concepts as wella s increasing students' interests in scientific and mathematical careers. It is hoped that this project can be continued and expanded into other areas besides mathematics.
Emotional Disturbance and Giftedness
Authors: Schauer George H.
Published: July 2017

Based on the premise that mental health is our nation's number one health problem and the impression that emotional disturbance and giftedness are little understood by educators this study reviews the literature and research which links these exceptionalities. The purpose of the study is to present: (1) accurate information about emotional disturbance and giftedness, (2) the necessity for earlv 'v identification of both emotionally disturbed and gifted children, and (3) the need for schools and communities to establish facilities which will provide the atmosphere for proper development and treatment for such youngsters.
In Pursuit of a Pattern for Scientists
Authors: LaSalle Don.
Published: July 2017

The guest editor for this issue is Dr. Donald P. LaSalle, director of the Talcott Mountain Science Center in Avon, Conn., a member of the Executive Board of NAGC, and an outstanding leader in science education for the gifted student. Under his direction Talcott Mountain functions as a science demonstration center for the model Connecticut State Gifted Program under the able direction of Bill Vassar, State Consultant for the Gifted. His guest editorial follows:
A Model for Adapting
Authors: Bailey Donald B. , Leonard Judith
Published: July 2017

Curriculum modification has been suggested as one means of providing appropriate educational experiences for gifted children. While several models have been suggested at the level of junior high and above, little has been done in terms of a structured approach at the preschool level. The present article suggests a model for adapting Bloom's taxonomy to a unit approach at the preschool level. Rationale for the model is presented, model objectives are provided at each level of the taxonomy, and an example of how the model can be applied to a specific unit is suggested.
Characteristics of Creatively Gifted Children
Authors: Davis Gary A. , Rimm Sylvia
Published: July 2017

Personality and biographical traits of creative individuals are summarized and some assessment instruments are reviewed. Special attention is given to GIFT, an instrument for identifying creatively talented elementary school children.
Integrating the Iep and Soi With Educational Programing for the Gifted
Authors: Hedbring Charles , Rubenzer Ronald
Published: July 2017

Given the advent of PL 94-142, this paper investigates a strategy for integrating the IEP and SOI in order to promote an accountability-based approach to differentiated programing for the gifted classroom student. Specifically, critical components of the IEP are identified, relevant features of the SI model outlined, and a system for deriving instructional and behavioral objectives from the SOI Profile is reviewed. The use of computer retrieval data banks with the system presented is discussed in light of the importance of optimal instructional intervention with the gifted.
Some Cues for the Distinction Between Voiced and Voiceless Stops in Initial Position
Authors: Liberman A. M. , Delattre P. C. , Cooper F. S.
Published: July 2017

Experiments with synthetic speech produced by the Pattern Playback indicated that the voiced stops in initial position could be made to sound like their voiceless counterparts by cutting back the beginning of the first-formant transition. Normally, the cutback of the first formant raises its starting frequency and also delays the time at which it begins relative to the other two formants. Both these changes appeared, in general, to be necessary. With certain combinations of stop and back vowel, however, a delay in the onset of the first formant was by itself sufficient to produce a strong voiceless effect. Substituting noise for harmonics in the transitions of the second and third formants (for the duration of the first-formant cutback) increased the impression of voicelessness over that obtained with cutback alone.

In judging stimuli that lay near phoneme boundaries, many listeners demonstrated what appeared to be a very high degree of acuity. It is possible that this is the result of long experience in the use of the language and thus represents an effect of learning on perception.
The Incidental Learning of Accessible Names and Definitions
Authors: Doob Leonard W.
Published: July 2017

An experiment was conducted to test and improve three hypotheses concerning the effects of exposing adults to varying combinations of names, definitions, and referents when the motivation to learn was at a minimum and when instructions could be easily executed. Three balanced designs were employed: in one, drawings representing the referents of ten ambiguous names and ten connotative definitions were present initially during learning and also subsequently during testing; in another they were present only initially; and in a third only subsequently. It was found, in the first place, that denotative definitions could be accurately remembered or utilized under most conditions. Responding with a connotative definition to a name, secondly, was the least efficient method of learning but only in the absence of a denotative definition. Verbal responses, thirdly, were more efficiently recalled than verbal stimuli, and stimulus names more efficiently than stimulus connotative definitions, provided that they had been learned in the presence of a referent designated by the investigator. In general, the importance of the denotative definition was demonstrated.
Some Effects of Context On Voice Onset Time in English Stops
Authors: Lisker Leigh , Abramson Arthur S.
Published: July 2017

Recent work has led us to the conclusion that the English stop categories /bdg/ and /ptk/ are distinguished by the timing of changes in glottal aperture relative to supra-glottal ariculation. In word-initial position, the environment of current interest to us, this is manifested acoustically by voice onset time, that is, the time interval between the burst that marks release of the stop closure and the onset of quasi-periodicity which reflects laryngeal vibration. For citation forms of words this measure of voice onset time completely separates the two phonemic categories. In running speech, however, the separation is less sharp ; there is some overlap along the dimension of voice onset time. We have examined running speech in some detail to discover the extent to which certain contextual features are responsible for this overlap. It is clear that the presence of a voiceless stop in a stressed syllable makes for a greater lag in the onset of voicing. In unstressed syllables, an environment of high contextual redundancy as well as low functional yield for the phonemic contrast, there is considerable reduction of the distinction along the dimension. A further increase in voicing lag is noted in syllables bearing the final sentence stress. In addition, the farther such a syllable is from the end of the sentence, the less the effect is likely to be. The importance of voice onset time continues to be apparent, even in running speech, although other effects of context remain to be explored.
Attention and Simultaneous Translation
Authors: Lawson Everdina A.
Published: July 2017

In a simultaneous translation task subjects were required to translate a message, which they received in one ear, into another language. In the other ear these subjects received an irrelevant message in either of the two languages used in the experiment. It was thought that the irrelevant message would exert some influence over the translating procedure if the same dictionary units and possibly the same thought units had been involved. The results seemed to support the hypothesis in so far as the word omission rate of the translated product appeared dependent on the language of the irrelevant message. No particular conclusion could be drawn regarding the different types of prose utilised in the irrelevant message. It seemed that : (1) subjects do worse with the inputs in the same language than in a different language ; (2) when the input languages are the same, prose from different novels results in more omissions than prose from the same novel ; (3) when the input languages are different they seem to do better with prose from a different novel.
Relations Between Semantic and Syntactic Factors in the Structuring of Language
Authors: Suci George J.
Published: July 2017

Past research has developed the " probe-latency technique " for assessing the structure of linguistic inputs. Results to date indicate that the probe-latency structure is primarily a function of syntactic relations in the input and is relatively independent of semantic characteristics of the stimulus material. The " question technique ", a second operational method, was developed as an approach to semantic processing. A study using both techniques is described in detail. The results of this study indicate that the question technique has promise as an approach to semantic processes. The study also gives further confirmation to the independence of semantic from syntactic processes.
Phonological and Grammatical Aspects of Jargon in an Aphasic Patient: a Case Study
Authors: Green E.
Published: July 2017

A study is made of one patient's aphasic jargon. His case history is reviewed and attention is drawn to the effects of Dilantin. The data consist of eleven tape recorded interviews and are submitted to phonological and grammatical analysis. The course of the patient's recovery indicates a decrease in distorted forms, no significant change in content-nouns, and an increase in verbs and indefinite noun phrases. Possibilities for further study are suggested.
Fundamental Frequency Characteristics of Adolescent Females
Authors: Duffy Robert J.
Published: July 2017

The purpose of the present study was to obtain data descriptive of the vocal pitch characteristics of adolescent females. The speaking voices of females at ages 11, 13 and 15 years were recorded and measured using standard phonellescopic procedures.

Data are presented describing the average fundamental frequency of the speaking voice, variability of pitch usage and incidence of frequency breaks (voice breaks) for the three age levels studied. Observations are made of the relationship between menarche and changing fundamental frequency levels. These data are compared with similar data on males and females of other age levels from previous studies.

The data are reviewed and discussed as to their implication for a description of female voice change.
Verbal Behaviour and Social Distance
Authors: Salzinger Kurt , Hammer Muriel , Portnoy Stephanie , Polgar Sylvia K.
Published: July 2017

Two studies were undertaken to investigate the relationship between social distance and the communicability of speech. In the first study, it was shown that individuals who personally know the author of a certain kind of story will understand that story better (as revealed by the Cloze procedure) than will individuals who do not personally know the author of the story. The second study used subjects who are members of a small group in which most people know each other. Social centrality in the group, as well as individual-to-individual social distances were studied. It was found that (1) those subjects who are often found in interaction with other members of the group (observed to be central) emit speech which communicates better to the rest of the group than those observed to be less central; (2) the degree of centrality indicated by subjects' reports shows a similar but non-significant relation with Cloze scores; (3) individually, subjects predict better the speech of those observed speaking to them than of the other subjects; and (4) subjects also predict better the speech of those they report as close, on one of the two self-report measures used. It was concluded that people show better communicability with people they spend time with than with others.
A Psycholinguistic Model of Syntactic Complexity
Authors: Frank Sheldon M. , Osser Harry
Published: July 2017

Previously developed psycholinguistic notions of syntactic complexity, involving depth, degree of nesting and node/terminal node ratio are reviewed. The authors' own system, based on transformational generative grammar, is presented. This system employs a quantitative unit measurement based on the fundamental logical operations underlying phrase- and transformation-rules. Each rule is thus seen to comprise a given number of units, and any English sentence can be quantitatively " measured " in this way. Evidence is cited to support the contentions (1) that this system provides hypotheses which have been testable in experimental language performance tasks and (2) that it comes closer to common-sense notions of complexity than the three other approaches. Problems germane to both theoretical foundations and practical application of the system are listed and discussed. These include the total number of transformations, usage, depth, degree of nesting, non-syntactic variables and the question of linearity.
An Experimental Technique for Investigating Certain Linguistic and Psycholinguistic Phenomena
Authors: Lachenmeyer Charles W.
Published: July 2017

The apparatus consists of a console with inserted circular array of 35 lighted buttons in three concentric circles of 5, 10 and 20 buttons each. Each button has a letter printed on its surface. The experimenter has control of a tape recorder on which are recorded the instructions, a switch which automatically raises the shield covering the button array, and the button lights. Moreover, he records the latency of response from the raising of the shield to the subject's depressing of a button with automatic timers. The subject is singly presented with instructional sentences of the basic form: "Press the X button ". By varying combinations of the labelled buttons and instructional sentences, one can test such linguistic independent variables as ambiguity, vagueness, and opacity, and such psycholinguistic variables as those specified for the double-bind hypothesis and other conflict models. Although the basic dependent variable is latency of response, others on observational categories can also be measured. Preliminary data with a simpler version of this apparatus demonstrate consistent differences and of response, others based on observational categories can also be measured. Preliminary orderings in mean and first trial latency between semantically congruent, ambiguous, and vague sentences.
An Objective Method for the Spectrographic Analysis of Sounds
Authors: Vernon Charles R. , Clark Thomas L. , Tarte Robert D.
Published: July 2017

A manual technique for rapidly and accurately scoring sound spectrograms is presented. The method allows for objective phonetic description and evaluation without the aid of either a highly-trained scorer or complex processing equipment. Empirical evidence using the technique is presented.
Form and Meaning in an Australian Language
Authors: Jones Alex I.
Published: July 2017

The distribution of phonemes and phoneme sequences is shown to be the result of the interaction of semantic features. Each semantic feature has a phonological canonical form, and the probability of a word realizing a given semantic feature complex is inversely dependent on its distance from the canonical forms concerned. Each word is the maximum probability estimator of its semantic features. It is suggested that this relation may hold in all languages, and that it requires considerable revision of traditional views of the lexicon.
Static and Dynamic Acoustic Cues in Distinctive Tones
Authors: Abramson Arthur S.
Published: July 2017

It is conventional to classify phonemic tones into dynamic or contour tones and static or level tones. The perceptual relevance of this impressionistic dichotomy is considered here for Central Thai, which has two dynamic tones (falling and rising pitches) and three static tones (high, mid, and low). A fundamental-frequency range appropriate to an adult male voice was used to synthesize three series of tonal variants on a syllable type available for five tonally differentiated words: (1) 16 Fo levels at intervals of 4 Hz, (2) 16 Fo movements from a mid origin to end points ranging from top to bottom of the range in steps of 4 Hz, and (3) 17 variants rising from the bottom to end points from top to bottom in steps of 4 Hz. The stimuli were played to native speakers for identification. The results indicate that level variants contain sufficient cues for identification as static tones but with considerable overlap. Identification, however, is enhanced by slow Fo movement. Rapid Fo movement is required for dynamic tones. Although imprecise, the typological dichotomy is useful.
Perception of Stop Consonants with Conflicting Transitional Cues: A Cross-Linguistic Study
Authors: Fujimura O. , Macchi M.J. , Streeter L.A.
Published: July 2017

In vowel-consonant-vowel (VCV) utterances, the place of articulation of the consonant is cued by formant transitions both out of the first vowel and into the second vowel. When the two transitions provide conflicting place cues, which dominates perception? The present experiment compared Japanese and American English listeners' perceptions of VCV stimuli in which the consonantal transitions conflicted. Conflicting transition stimuli were created from naturally produced Japanese disyllabic forms, with two accent patterns: low-high and high-low. Results of the experiment indicated that the transitions into a vowel generally outweigh the transitions out of a vowel. Further, this effect was found to be a function not of speech production factors, but rather of perceptual factors. In addition, Japanese and American English listeners responded differentially to the accent pattern of the stimuli. American English listeners showed a greater tendency to identify the intervocalic consonant according to the out-of-vowel transitions when the accent pattern was high-low than when the accent pattern was low-high. In contrast, Japanese listeners' judgments were unaffected by the accent pattern of the stimuli. The results are discussed with reference to differences in the linguistic function of VC transitions and to differences in syllable structure between the two languages.
Physiological and Acoustic Correlates of Perceived Stress
Authors: Gay Thomas
Published: July 2017

In speech production, syllables that are stressed differ from those that are unstressed along at least four parameters: duration, fundamental frequency, overall intensity, and spectral composition. This paper reviews acoustic and physiological studies concerned with these features and how they might be accounted for by a single physiological mechanism. The perception of stress is then considered in the context of recent experiments that manipulated these parameters either singly or multi-dimensionally. The results of this line of experimentation suggest that the perception of stress, like its production, is related to a complex of acoustic features.
Vowel Duration Change and Its Underlying Physiological Mechanisms
Authors: Harris Katherine S.
Published: July 2017

Two explanations have been proposed for the relationship between vowel-target formant frequency and articulatory stress. The first, the “extra energy” hypothesis, suggests that stressing is accompanied by larger signals to the articulators, so that stressed syllables are longer and have more extreme formant values. The second, the “undershoot” hypothesis, suggests that the signals sent to the articulators are of constant magnitude, but that changes in timing result in differences in formant frequency. This view leads to a prediction that the relationship between target formant frequency and duration is fixed, whatever the cause of the duration variation. Acoustic and electromyographic measures were made of productions of nonsense syllables with varying stress and speaking rate, by three speakers. Results fail to support the undershoot hypothesis, since syllable duration and vowel target frequency are independent. While speaking rate variations are accomplished in a different manner by the three speakers, the “extra energy” model for stressing seems to be supported.
On the Distributional Analysis of Pitch Phenomena
Authors: Jassem Wiktor
Published: July 2017

Both the present analytical techniques and methods of structuring pitch data in language are not entirely satisfactory. Neither traditional procedures, essentially aimed at didactical applications nor the more theoretical work done on transformational-generative lines have reached sufficient depth of insight or fully accounted for available data. For general methodological reasons it is preferable to try to elaborate a distributional theory of linguistic “tone” and intonation rather than develop further the existing TG-type of analysis. By means of examples taken from Swedish and English an attempt is made to show how strictly distributional criteria allowing no previous semantic or grammatical information may be employed to define the difference between tone and non-tone languages and to structure pitch data in a non-tone language. Methods of empirically testing hypotheses, including instrumental analysis and psychophonetic experiments, are suggested.
Apprehending Spelling Patterns for Vowels: a Developmental Study
Authors: Fowler Carol A. , Shankweiler Donald , Liberman Isabelle Y.
Published: July 2017

This study investigates the extent to which children and adults are responsive to orthographic regularities in their readings of nonsense sysllables that conform to the phonology and spelling conventions of English words. College students and children of the second, third and fourth years of elementary school read a list of nonsense monosyllables in which most common vowel spellings were presented. Their vowel responses were analyzed according to three categories: incorrect assignment of sound to spelling and correct assignments by context-free and context-dependent criteria. At all levels of reading experience, the proportions of responses falling into the two latter categories far exceeded expectations based on chance responding. These results showed that the children were able to take advantage of orthographic regularities when asked to read unfamiliar words, and, moreover, with increasing age and reading experience they were able progressively to delimit the contexts in which the different regularities apply. The implication is that in learning to read, children do not merely add items to a sight vocabulary by rote recognition of unanalyzed word wholes. Instead, they acquire a practical knowledge of spelling patterns which can readily be applied to new instances.
Talkativeness and Children's Linguistic Abilities
Authors: Landon Sarah J. , Sommers Ronald K.
Published: July 2017

Teachers and teacher assistants independently identified highly talkative and much less talkative pre-school children. All children were normal in intelligence and overall development. Twenty children of each type received a battery of speech and language tests measuring articulation, grammar, receptive syntax, and sentence repetition. The performances of the highly talkative children were significantly superior on all measures. No environmental or familial differences were found between the subjects of the two groups which might have influenced the findings.
Speech and Psychopathology
Authors: Chevrie-Muller Claude , Sevestre P. , Seguier N.
Published: July 2017

The purpose of this review is to report on the main directions of research in speech analysis as they relate to various psychiatric states. The variables most often analyzed in both speech and psychiatry, and the procedures which have been used by different authors to establish relationships between them are described. Particular attention is devoted to three groups of variables: the psychological states of the speaker, the vocal characteristics of the speaker, and the listener's perception of the speaker's state of mind. The results of observations and experiments are reviewed from the "Founding period" (i.e., the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries) when the great European psychopathologists clinically defined vocal characteristics in mental illness and when later the first correlations between acoustical measurements of speech parameters and psychological and psycho-pathological states were established. The "Modern period" (from 1950 to the present time) is then considered when more sophisticated technology has been introduced and quantities of data collected. In conclusion, the authors insist on the interest of further research especially (1) in the field of possible common regulation of speech and of mental functions and (2) in the use of speech as an objective reflection of mental state giving help in diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic evaluation.
Accentedness Ratings and Phonological Variables as Measures of Variation in Pronunciation
Authors: Van Bezooijen Renee , Van Hout Roeland
Published: July 2017

Verbally neutral, spontaneous speech samples were selected from interviews with 16 younger and 16 older males (mean ages 17 and 69 years, respectively) varying in socio-economic status (SES). All informants were native of Nijmegen, a city in the mideast of the Netherlands. The speech samples were rated with respect to the degree of accentedness and the pronunciation of six phonological variables with variants typical for the Nijmegen dialect. A factor analysis based on the correlations among the phonological variables yielded two factors, the first with high loadings of the four vowels, the second with a high loading of one of the two consonants, the /v/. The other consonant, the /z/, did not contribute to either factor. There was a strong correlation between the factor-1 scores on the one hand and accentedness and SES on the other. The factor-2 scores correlated with age. Some methodological and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.
Coarticulation and Phonology
Authors: Ohala John J.
Published: July 2017

Many sound patterns in languages are cases of fossilized coarticulation, that is, synchronic or phonetic contextual variation became diachronic or phonological variation via sound change. An examination of languages' phonologies can therefore yield insights into the mechanisms of coarticulation. In this paper I discuss (a) the need to differentiate between phonological processes that are and are not due to coarticulation, (b) the need to differentiate between ‘on-line’ synchronic variation and comparable fossilized diachronic variation, (c) how to determine some of the constraints on coarticulation – especially the higher priority of maintaining acoustic-auditory, rather than articulatory, norms for the shape of speech elements, and (d) how coarticulation presents a “parsing” problem to the listener and, of course, to systems for automatic speech recognition.
An Electropalatographic Study of Alveolar and Palatal Consonants in Catalan and Italian
Authors: Recasens Daniel , Farnetani Edda , Fontdevila Jordi , Pallarès Maria Dolors
Published: July 2017

Electropalatographic data for Catalan and Italian reported in this paper reveal the existence of two categories of palatal consonants, namely, alveolopalatals ([n], [λ]) and palatals proper ([j]). All these consonants are produced with a single place of articulation and thus are not good candidates for complex segments involving a tongue front articulator and a tongue dorsum articulator. A higher degree of coupling between the primary articulator and other tongue regions for alveolopalatals and palatals than for alveolar [n] accounts for a reduced sensitivity to coarticulatory effects for the former vs. the latter. Alveolarpalatal correlations reported in this study support the notion of relative independence between different tongue articulators for non-dorsal vs. dorsal consonants. Differences in articulation and coarticulation were found for Italian vs. Catalan. In comparison with their Catalan counterparts, Italian shows the following properties: Consonants are more anterior, [n] allows less coarticulation at the alveolar zone (in line with the laminal nature of the consonant), and long alveolopalatals exhibit more contact and less coarticulation at the front palatal zone.
A Comparative Investigation of Coarticulation in Fricatives: Electropalatographic, Electromagnetic, and Acoustic Data
Authors: Hoole Philip , Nguyen-Trong Noel , Hardcastle William
Published: July 2017

The principal aim of this investigation was to compare coarticulatory effects at different levels of the speech production system, in order to gain insight into the relations between the different levels. To this end, the relative magnitudes of carryover and anticipatory coarticulation with adjacent vowels were measured at the midpoints of the two lingual fricatives /s/ and /∫/ in two speakers each of English, French, and German. Linguopalatal contact patterns derived from electropalatographic recordings were compared with an analysis of the acoustic output. The results indicated, firstly, that mismatches between articulatory and acoustic results are not uncommon. Secondly, and more surprisingly, while there was no difference in the overall magnitude of coarticulatory effects for /s/ and /∫/, not all speakers showed a predominance of the same coarticulatory direction on both fricatives; this complicated the observed tendency for the predominance of carryover coarticulation to be greater in German and English than in French. Two speakers were retested using comparative analyses of electropalatography and electromagnetic articulography. These two procedures gave a closely parallel picture of lingual coarticulatory regularities (while complementing each other in terms of characterizing articulation). The implications of these results for identifying language-specific coarticulatory regularities are discussed.
Temporal and Spatial Aspects of Lingual Coarticulation in /kl/ Sequences: A Cross-Linguistic Investigation
Authors: Gibbon Fiona , Hardcastle William , Nicolaidis Katerina
Published: July 2017

Temporal and spatial aspects of lingual coarticulation in /kl/ clusters in intervocalic position (VklV) were investigated in six European languages: Catalan, English, French, German, Italian, and Swedish. Three speakers of each language repeated a set of real words and nonsense items five times. Temporal overlap of /k/ and /l/ gestures, as represented by a numerical “overlap index”, was interpreted as tongue-tip/tongue-body coarticulation, and was measured from electropalatographic and airflow records. Results revealed several language-specific features. For example, the tendency to overlap was different for the six languages. All the languages except Swedish showed some instances of overlap, and Catalan showed the strongest tendency. The vowel environment also had a significant effect: The presence of an open back vowel in V1 and V2 positions increased the tendency for overlap to occur. However, there was no statistically significant difference in overlap between nonsense and real words. Spatial information from EPG data showed that articulatory placement of the tongue-body gesture was more retracted in a /kl/ cluster compared to a singleton consonant. All the languages under investigation showed this phenomenon. These findings are discussed in terms of possible constraints operating between the tip/blade and tongue-body systems.
Contextual Variation of the Vowel Voice Source as a Function of Adjacent Consonants
Authors: Chasaide Ailbhe Ní , Gobl Christer
Published: July 2017

The contextual effects of voiced/voiceless stops on the voice source of an adjacent vowel were examined for the first vowel in ‘CVCV utterances in German, English, Swedish, French, and Italian. The principal analysis technique involved interactive inverse filtering and parameterisation of the glottal waveform in terms of a four-parameter voice source model (the LF-model). This analysis procedure was supplemented by measures from narrowband spectral sections of the speech output and by oral airflow recordings which allow inferences about the relative timing of glottal and supraglottal gestures. Results indicated that the voiced/voiceless nature of the consonant does yield differences in the voice source of the vowel. The most striking effects were found in the context of voiceless consonants, and cross-language differences did emerge in terms of directionality and degree. Extensive anticipatory effects were found for Swedish and for some speakers of English. Preceding the voiceless stop the vowel becomes increasingly breathy-voiced, and it would appear that the glottal abduction gesture is anticipated very early in the course of the vowel. Italian exhibited a similar tendency, though to a considerably lesser degree. The German data, on the other hand, showed certain strong carryover effects: Following the voiceless aspirated stop there was extensive breathy voicing. French showed little contextual variation in either direction. Rather surprisingly, the observed effects were not directly correlated with, or predictable from, the phonetic categories involved (voiced, voiceless unaspirated, and voiceless postaspirated). These results yield insights into the control parameters which may be involved in regulating voicing oppositions in these languages. Whereas the anticipatory effects observed might be consistent with a “timing” model of glottal control, the carryover effects cannot be explained in terms of timing alone and suggest that differences in tension settings of the laryngeal musculature may also be implicated.
Reported Reasons for Meat Avoidance
Authors: Ockerman Herbert W. , Nxumalo Jerry D.
Published: July 2017

A variety of meats is eaten in different areas of the world. The choice of species for consumption is limited by availability and influenced by geographical area. But of greater influence in the choice of meat are cultural influences, whether derived from religion or modern philosophies of vegetarianism.
Look at it This Way
Authors: van Staden Johannes
Published: July 2017

‘Look at it this way’ features contributions from distinguished scientists on contentious and current issues in areas such as development, population growth, agricultural production and policy.
Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources in India: A Review of Policy Issues and Perspectives
Authors: Ravishankar A. , Archak Sunil
Published: July 2017

The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have propelled issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources to the fore. This paper attempts an objective appraisal from India's viewpoint of these relevant but contentious issues. After taking stock of crop genetic wealth, the shortcomings in the present structure of legal framework for conservation of the nation's genetic resources are examined. Property rights in plant genetic resources are the key to their conservation and wise use. Although India is a treasure-house of plant biodiversity, demographic factors, lack of a property rights regime and general ignorance have resulted in the plundering of these invaluable natural resources. This paper's argument is that if intellectual property rights (IPR) are imaginatively adapted to actual needs, they can go a long way towards the conservation of crop genetic resources. The dilemmas that developing countries face in the post-World Trade Organization (WTO) scenario are presented on the one hand as the all-important goal of food security (which calls for agricultural intensification), and habitat conservation on the other. Finally, a framework is suggested for the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources.