bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Richard Böckh (1824–1907): Sprachenstatistik zwischen Nationalitätsprinzip und Nationalstaat
Authors: Leuschner Torsten
Published: February 2014

The present article discusses politically relevant aspects of the work of the Prussian statistician Richard Böckh (1824–1907), a renowned specialist on language statistics, nationality policy and general demographics in his day. Two of his publications are focused on: the article “Über die statistische Bedeutung der Volksprache” (‘On the Statistical Significance of the National Tongue’, 1866), in which Böckh expresses the view that nationality is defined exclusively by virtue of language, and the bookDer Deutschen Volkszahl und Sprachgebiet in den europäischen Staaten(‘The Number and Areal Extension of Germans in the States of Europe’, 1869), in which he proposes a catalogue of linguistic human rights. The purpose of the present article is to analyse the public reception of Böckh’s works in two contexts: the Franco-German war of 1870/71, when the German public interpreted Böckh’s ideas as justifying the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, and the debates over the Official Language question in Prussia in 1873–1876. Finally, two characteristic aspects of Böckh’s activities in his later years are highlighted: his active support ofAuslandsdeutschtum(German minorities outside the Reich), and his protest at the misuse of statistics for anti-semitic propaganda around 1880. The latter issue in particular, though courageous, proves just how much the formerly popular language-based concept of nationality was already on the defensive ten years after the foundation of the German Reich in 1871.
Reichling and De Groot: Two Dutch reactions to Bühler'sOrganon-Modell
Authors: Elffers-van Ketel Els
Published: February 2014

Dutch structuralism developed during the first half of the 20th century as a heterogeneous movement. Interest in the works of Karl Bühler (1879–1963), however, can be observed in the publications of Dutch linguists as different as Albert Willem de Groot (1892–1963) and Anton Reichling (1898–1986), professors of General Linguistics at the universities of, respectively, Utrecht and Amsterdam. Although the ways in which they discuss and make use of Bühler’s insights differ widely, in agreement with their very divergent theoretical orientations, there is one common element: both scholars discovered and criticized, independently of each other, the same ambiguity in the famous organon-model, presented by Bühler in his Sprachtheorie (1934).
Disciplining Women?: Grammar, gender, and leisure in the works of Ellenor Fenn (1743–1813)
Authors: Percy Carol
Published: February 2014

On the basis of an analysis of works for children published by Ellenor Fenn (1743–1813) in the 1780s, an argument is offered concerning the significance of English grammar to the domestic education of elite boys and girls. The topic is contextualized in overviews of the high social value of grammar and of the maternal educator, idealized for her ‘civilizing’ influence, especially on men. Some elite mothers were criticized by Fenn and her contemporaries for preferring public life to domestic responsibility or for indulging their children. While acknowledging the difficulties of child-rearing and the challenges to women’s domestic authority, Fenn and others spell out the consequences of failing to train young males in particular. The author argues that educational toys and age-graded books like Fenn’s encouraged loving mothers to socialize their children while simul­taneously displaying their wealth. Grammar, because of its associations with order, was central to this domestic curriculum. While not overtly challenging conventional gender roles, Fenn represented ‘sprightly’ young females not as intellectually superficial but as naturally quick to learn and playfully able to teach young males and females. Their pedagogical duties justified young women’s education and granted women educators domestic authority and public importance.
The Rise and Fall and Revival of the Ibero-Caucasian Hypothesis
Authors: Tuite Kevin
Published: February 2014

The hypothesis that the three indigenous Caucasian language stocks (Abkhaz-Adyghean, Nakh-Daghestanian, and Kartvelian) are genetically related has little support at the present day among linguists specializing in these languages. Nonetheless, the so-called ‘Ibero-Caucasian’ hypothesis had strong institutional backing in Soviet Caucasology, especially in Georgia, and continues to be invoked in certain contemporary discourses of a political and identitarian nature. In this paper the history of the Ibero-Caucasian hypothesis will be presented against the background of research into the autochthonous languages of the North and South Caucasus, and also in connection with the historiographic debate over the relation of Abkhazia to Georgia.
Missionary linguistics in the Kimberley, Western Australia
Authors: McGregor William B.
Published: February 2014

This paper explores the contribution of missionary linguists to the documentation, description, and maintenance of Aboriginal languages of the Kimberley region of Western Australia from the establishment of the first enduring mission in 1890 to 1960. It is argued that the primary contribution was to language documentation. However, the descriptive contribution was not negligible, and many missionary linguists struggled intelligently with the descriptive challenges confronting them (ergative case-marking, noun-class systems, compound verb constructions, etc.). Rather than being rigidly bound by the Latinate model, they modified it in various ways (usually not explicitly discussed), including by using traditional terminology in novel ways.
Léxico purépecha en tiempos de la Ilustración: Un acercamiento a los apartados léxicos delCathecismode Joseph Zepherino Botello Movellán (1756)
Authors: Villavicencio Frida
Published: February 2014

In 1756 Joseph Zepherino Botello Movellán (1734–c.1785) wrote theCathecismo breve en lengua tarasca(“Brief catechism in the Tarascan language”). It was written in Purepecha or Tarascan, an indigenous language spoken in the northwestern part of the state of Michoacan, Mexico, by about 100,000 people. This is the only known 18th-century religious document written in this language, thus its great importance. Botello includes four word lists in his catechism which give us a small vocabulary. The word lists clearly do not have the extensive coverage or the lexicographic importance of the dictionaries of the 16th century; however, the value of this hand-written vocabulary lies in the fact that there is nothing else comparable from the 18th century. The composition and content of Botello’s catechism, produced by a typical member of the illustrious Creole class, it has features characteristic of the end of the century. In this paper, I describe the principal characteristics of Botello’s catechism with its four lexical lists, in particular that of body parts. A point of reference for my analysis is the list of body parts in theArte y Diccionario: con otras obras en lengua Michoacanaby Juan Bautista de Lagunas, OFM (fl.1539–1574, d.1604) of 1574. The Catechism gives us a good idea of Purepecha in the 18th century and its historical development. The language in the document shows it to be closer to that of the 16th century than it is to modern Purepecha. It suggests that Spanish prepositions were possibly introduced in the 18th century. Botello’s catechism contains much interesting information on a variety of topics, such as orthography, dialectal variations, derivational processes, loan words and semantic relations. The language in this document documents the grammaticalization of the plural markers. Some data for the Spanish of the 18th century are also presented.
Sinclair on collocation
Authors: Barnbrook Geoff
Published: February 2014

This paper reassesses the description of collocation given by Sinclair in Chapter 8 of Corpus, Concordance, Collocation, in particular the implications of this description for models of language production and interpretation, contrasting the open choice and idiom principles. The concepts of independent and dependent meanings are explored, along with the relationship between texts and grammar. The arguments put forward in the Chapter are evaluated against collocation evidence obtained from a large reference corpus.
Notes on the ofness of of — Sinclair and grammar
Authors: Owen Charles
Published: February 2014

Sinclair’s grammatical work is notable for its strict reliance on performance data and its avoidance of psychological theorising. His argument rests on the observation that large corpora reveal a huge discrepancy between the predictions made by cognitive models of grammar and what actually happens in performance. This discrepancy cannot be explained away by appeal to encoding/processing deficiencies, but must be taken as reason to revise our view of grammar, especially by exploring its interdependence with lexis. In this he follows Halliday’s (1966) idea that every word has its own grammar. Sinclair’s 1991 paper on the word of (‘The meeting of lexis and grammar’) exemplifies his thinking in this area with particular energy and originality. Questioning the traditional classification of of as a preposition, he proposes a new, more semantically based, approach to the analysis of noun phrases traditionally said to contain postmodification of the head with an of-phrase, e.g. the horns of the bull. This chapter reviews Sinclair’s development as a grammarian, examines the arguments of the 1991 paper and suggests that while his work has been radically transformative in linguistics, it should not indefinitely avoid engaging with the problem of how best to represent what it is that we know when we say we know a language.
Sinclair, pattern grammar and the question of hatred
Authors: Teubert Wolfgang
Published: February 2014

The view of pattern grammar is that syntactic structures and lexical items are co-selected and that grammatical categories begin to align very closely with semantic distinctions. While this is certainly a valid position when analysing the phenomenon of collocation, it does not really solve the problem for open choice issues. Not all language use can be subsumed under the idiom principle. The noun hatred, for instance, can co-occur with any discourse object for which hatred can be expressed. It can also co-occur with other lexical items standing for various circumstantial aspects. The grammatical structure itself often does not tell us whether we find expressed the object of hatred or some circumstantial aspect, as these structures tend to have more than one reading. Lexicogrammar, or local grammar, is more than equating a syntactic structure with a semantic pattern. We have to be aware of the different functions or readings a given grammatical structure can have. The framework of valency/dependency grammar can help us to make the necessary distinctions.
Multi-dimensional register classification using bigrams
Authors: Crossley Scott , Louwerse Max M.
Published: February 2014

A corpus linguistic analysis investigated register classification using frequency of bigrams in nine spoken and two written corpora. Four dimensions emerged from a factor analysis using bigram frequencies shared across corpora: (1) Scripted vs. Unscripted Discourse, (2) Deliberate vs. Unplanned Discourse, (3) Spatial vs. Non-Spatial Discourse, and (4) Directional vs. Non-Directional Discourse. These findings were replicated in a second analysis. Both analyses demonstrate the strength of bigrams for classifying spoken and written registers, especially in locating distinct collocations among spoken corpora, as well as revealing syntactic and discourse features through a data-driven approach.
A study of backchannels in regional varieties of English, using corpus mark-up as the means of identification
Authors: Wong Deanna , Peters Pam
Published: February 2014

Backchannels are a linguistic phenomenon that remains poorly defined. Borrowing of terminology and a reliance on axiomatic definitions has resulted in a diverse nomenclature and an indeterminate inventory of forms. Further, research concentration on backchannels produced in northern hemisphere English has led to the assumption of a common repertoire across all varieties, without supporting empirical investigation. This investigation analysed transcriptions of telephone conversations drawn from the Australian and New Zealand sub-corpora of the International Corpus of English (ICE), and used the ICE corpus mark-up scheme to select potential targets. Chi-square analyses found listeners used single word backchannels more often than more elaborate forms; and Australian listeners produced more backchannels and more single forms. These findings were compared with reported usage by US English listeners, showing that while listeners worldwide draw from a common repertoire of backchannel forms, they differ in the complexity of the structures they use.
Sharing sign language data online
Authors: Crasborn Onno A. , Mesch Johanna , Waters Dafydd , Nonhebel Annika , van der Kooij Els , Woll Bencie , Bergman Brita
Published: February 2014

This article describes how new technological possibilities allow sign language researchers to share and publish video data and transcriptions online. Both linguistic and technological aspects of creating and publishing a sign language corpus are discussed, and standards are proposed for both metadata and transcription categories specific to sign language data. In addition, ethical aspects of publishing video data of signers online are considered, and suggestions are offered for future corpus projects and software tools.
Perceived effect of the mass media on self vs. other
Authors: Cho Hyunyi , Han Miejeong
Published: February 2014

This study represents the first cross-cultural investigation of the third person effect hypothesis, which states that individuals overestimate mass media effect on others (Davidson, 1983). It is predicted that the difference between perceived effects of the media on self vs. other will be greater in an individualistic than collectivistic culture, because in the latter self and other are not as separate and the motivation for self-enhancement is not as salient as in the former. Survey data were collected from 671 South Korean (n=351) and U.S. (n=320) college students regarding their perceptions about the effects of beer commercials, liquor advertisements, television news about AIDS, and television news about the effects of smoking. The third person effect of undesirable media content emerged from both American and Korean samples, but the size was consistently greater among Americans compared to Koreans. Likewise, the first person effect was greater among Americans rather than Koreans.
Views of knowledge and attitudes towards truth reflected in the group interaction patterns of Malaysian and British students
Authors: Tin Tan Bee
Published: February 2014

The paper analyzes the group interaction patterns of Malaysian and British students on a British undergraduate program in order to investigate how the way knowledge is constructed by the British and the Malaysian students in various group discussion tasks reflects the various philosophical and cultural views of knowledge into which they might have been socialized by their previous socio-cultural and educational experiences. The results show that the presence of the British students has an effect on the Malaysian students’ use of reactive framing. The Malaysian students in bi-national tasks do not react as much as they do when they are on their own. The interaction patterns in divergent tasks indicate that while the British students add and react alternately as individuals, the Malaysian students add together and react together as a group. Two different types of intolerance are also seen at play in convergent tasks: intolerance of accuracy (certainty about truth) vs. intolerance of task completion. While the British students have a higher degree of intolerance concerning the accuracy and certainty of knowledge than Malaysians, Malaysians have a higher degree of intolerance concerning the completion of the task.
Borrowing words and ideas
Authors: Rinnert Carol , Kobayashi Hiroe
Published: February 2014

This study investigates Japanese university students’ perceptions related to the notion of plagiarism in their L1 academic context in Japan. The analysis is based on questionnaire and interview responses from Japanese undergraduate (N = 605) and graduate students (N = 110). The responses are compared across disciplines (science versus liberal arts majors) and across academic levels (undergraduate versus graduate students), along with a cross-cultural comparison with similar responses from a smaller number of native English speaking undergraduates in the U. S. (N = 76). The findings of the study indicate that Japanese students do not have much knowledge of citation of sources, particularly as compared to U. S. students, and they perceive the borrowing of words or ideas without citing the source to be not entirely negative. Although both academic level and major field apparently affect students’ knowledge of citation conventions and attitudes toward borrowing words or ideas, the results suggest that academic discipline may be more influential than academic level. In particular, liberal arts (humanities and social science) majors showed more awareness than science (computer science, engineering and physical science) majors of a need for crediting sources. The insights provided by the participants suggest a number of ways in which teachers might facilitate students’ acquisition of academic literacy and citation conventions in their L2.
The directionality of grammaticalization in Spanish
Authors: Company Company Concepción
Published: February 2014

The paper examines three directions of grammaticalization by subjectification. Using the general cline Grammar > Discourse and Discourse > Grammar or Grammar ↔ Discourse, Spanish shows three types of diachronic subjectification, going in three different directions: (1) Grammar > Grammar; (2) Grammar > Discourse; (3) Grammar > Discourse > and again Grammar. Directions 1 and 2 are well known; direction 3, as far as I know, is unknown in the literature about grammaticalization.

(1) Initiates in the Grammar, at the textual-syntactic level, and continues to function in the Grammar, with a different distribution and different syntactic-semantic properties as regards its etymon. (2) Begins in the Grammar, cancels the syntactic and morphological capacities of the etymon, produces syntactic isolation and widening of scope and results in the creation of autonomous forms which work at the discourse level. (3) Begins in the Grammar, goes to the Discourse via the cancellation of the morphological and syntactic capacities of the objective form, widens its scope and results in an autonomous form. Once it has operated in the Discourse, it returns to the Grammar, narrowing its scope, taking a new grammatical role again, and paradigmatizing with other forms. The form preserves the subjective meaning of the second stage.

The process in all cases is semantically the same: the speaker’s appraisals, points of view and attitudes about the event and his/her interaction with regard to the hearer find explicit codification in grammar, becoming a coded and highly-conventionalized meaning in the grammar of a language (Traugott 1995b, 1999), but the direction of the change is different in each case. Subjectification looks like a multi-dimensional process, not a unidirectional one.
Sociolinguistic-ethnohistorical observations on Maritime Polynesian Pidgin in Herman Melville’s two major semi-autobiographical novels of the Pacific
Authors: Drechsel Emanuel J.
Published: February 2014

Notwithstanding limited micro-sociolinguistic information on who spoke what, how, when, where, and in what other relevant circumstances, Melville’s two major semi-autobiographical novels of the Pacific, Typee and Omoo, invite an analysis in terms of an ethnohistory of speaking, i.e. the restoration of historical linguistic attestations by triangulation with comparative evidence following philological principles and the critical interpretation of extralinguistic, sociohistorical factors by ethnological criteria. In spite of their Anglophone spellings, Melville’s attestations of Maritime Polynesian Pidgin are reconstitutable by comparative evidence from Polynesian source languages, especially Hawaiian, Marquesan, and Tahitian. These recordings deserve recognition for their accuracy on grounds of their overall structural consistency with independent historical data. While the novelist did not explain how he had obtained these recordings, linguistic contrasts suggest that Hawaiian served as a prime (although not exclusive) source of information in full or pidginized form.
Deux types de représentations des séquences nominales figées en coréen et de leurs formes fléchies avec INTEX
Authors: Bae Sun-Mee
Published: February 2014

Summary

In this paper, we present the methodology for the construction of electronic dictionaries for frozen nominal sequences in Korean and their inflectional forms. For efficiency, we propose two independent dictionaries : one for frozen nominal sequences using list or graphical representation and the other for nominal postpositions using graphical representation. One could merge the two dictionaries into a single dictionary through the aid of the pre-defined inflectional code of each frozen nominal sequence and the inflection module in INTEX. In spite of the substantial differences between inflectional and agglutinative languages, we can describe frozen nominal sequences in Korean and their inflectional forms in INTEX.
Regroupements sémantiques dans un dictionnaire d’adverbes composés en espagnol
Authors: Blanco Xavier
Published: February 2014

Summary

At first, we present semantic grups compiled in the Spanish compound adverbs dictionary. We propose four types of semantic groups : variants, series of (para)synonyms, open adverbs and adverbs organised by lexical functions.

Then, we discuss the possibility of using compound adverbs to caracterise semantic classes of verbs in Spanish.

Finally, we study some properties of the structures formed by a verb and adverb related or the relationship with structures formed by a predicative noun and adjective.
Verbes spécifiques de durée avec une complétive en dei «pour que P» en coréen
Authors: Jung Eun-Jin
Published: February 2014

Summary

This article examines duration-specific verbs in Korean, i.e. the verbs which introduce an complement of duration no matter its syntactic position wihin the sentence. We can count about twenty duration-specific verbs. We will focus, here, on verbs with a sentential complement P
dei-ei « for that P ». We study the syntactic properties of these verbs, as well as the distributional properties of the constituents of this type of elementary sentences. We aim, finally, at representing various uses and constraints in the form of automata for the recognition of the expressions concerned.
Some remarks on the application of a lexicon-grammar
Authors: Paumier Sébastien
Published: February 2014

Summary

The French lexicon-grammar today is the most complete, in particular for the description of verbs. As we have undertaken to convert all these tables into computable data in order to apply them to electronic corpora, we have encountered many problems due to their size. In this paper, we describe some of these problems and present some ideas for solving them.
Le rôle de que dans la distribution syntaxique de c’est-à-dire (que) en langue orale
Authors: Jacquel Géraldine
Published: February 2014

Analysing the c’est-à-dire’s distribution as it occurs in the oral code, as well as its monolingual and dialectic uses, amounts to evaluate the scope of the phrase : a scope that can either be said to be narrow, if there are phrasal constituents, large if there are independent finite clauses.

 The distinction that was established to explain for the occurrences of c’est-à-dire in writing, i.e. that distinguishes between c’est-à-dire as linking phrasal constituents and c’est-à-dire que as introducing phrases, is not valid in the oral code : c’est-à-dire can also link phrases and c’est-à-dire que is not systematically the mark of a large scope, the conjunction que not always being dependent on the c’est-à-dire phrase.
Editorial
Authors: Tonkin Humphrey
Published: February 2014

Since LMLP, the precursor of LPLP, began publication over thirty years ago, the field of sociolinguistics and language policy has changed. Dedicated to the study of the terrain where languages intersect, the journal began in an environment in which the principal problem was the failure of information to flow across language barriers; today the issue is not porosity but homogeneity: English has pulled ahead of its competitors as globalization continues. LPLP has had mixed success over the years in promoting the study of international aspects of language contact and policy. What can it do today to increase that success? Should it be renamed, to take into account a shift in overall scholarly interest from language planning to language choice? Should it continue to encourage submission of manuscripts in languages other than English? Should the content of the journal change to match changing times? Should the journal be linked with other means of communication, e.g. a website for updates and reader comments? Above all, what can it do to stimulate more research and writing in its chosen fields of language policy, language choice, and multilingualism?
Die Politiek van Vergetelheid
Authors: Reagan Timothy , Vorster P.H.
Published: February 2014

Van die skoliere in die Verenigde State wat ’n vreemdetaal-opsie uitoefen, neem slegs ongeveer 3.5% een van die “minder-algemeen-onderrigte tale”. In hierdie artikel wil ons nagaan wat dit is wat verskillende subversamelings van die “minder-algemeen-onderrigte tale” van mekaar onderskei, en wat sommige van die sosiale, politiese, ekonomiese, kulturele en ideologiese elemente is wat op hierdie tale inwerk, veral met betrekking tot hul aanwesigheid — of gebrek aan aanwesigheid — in die leergange van openbare skole. Ons doel is om die algemeen-aanvaarde, hoewel grootliks onverwoorde tale-hiërargie rondom die “minder-algemeen-onderrigte tale” te belig, en om oor die implikasies van hierdie hiërargie vir die taalonderrigpraktyk te besin. Om kort te gaan, hierdie artikel wil die saak uitmaak dat daar ’n behoefte bestaan aan ’n “sosiale grammatika” van die “minder-algemeen-onderrigte tale”. Alhoewel die argumente wat hiermee voorgelê word uit die konteks van die openbare onderwys in die Verenigde State voortspruit, het die hele aangeleentheid duidelike en belangrike implikasies ook vir ander samelewings.
Review article:Esperanto Studies in Review (1)
Authors: Fettes Mark
Published: February 2014

The inaugural issue of a new journal of Esperanto Studies provides insights into research traditions and current directions.
Swimming Against the Tide
Authors: Jones Mari C.
Published: February 2014

A variety of Romance has been spoken on Jersey for some two thousand years. However Jèrriais, the Norman dialect spoken on the Island today, is now obsolescent. Its decline in fortune has recently prompted a number of corpus and status planning initiatives which, largely devoid of State support, lie in the hands of a small, non-linguistically trained, group of enthusiasts. This paper examines the different agencies of language planning on Jersey and the progress they have made hitherto, comparing the corpus and status planning undertaken in this context with that which occurs in countries where more support is forthcoming from the State, and situating the position of Jèrriais within the contemporary language planning literature. It also suggests some possible avenues for the future and discusses the factors which are likely to determine the success or otherwise of the outcome. The paper highlights the fact that, by themselves, high-prestige domains such as the school do not necessarily hold the key to successful language maintenance.
The place of Modern Hebrew as a lingua franca of Jewish studies
Authors: Sadan Tsvi
Published: February 2014

The present study examines the macrosociolinguistic situation of Modern Hebrew in oral and written scientific communication among researchers in the various fields of Jewish studies in the international arena. An analysis of selective statistical data from the past four decades shows that during this period Modern Hebrew has been a lingua franca of Jewish studies alongside English, its importance varying in accordance with the fields of study and the modes of scientific communication. English, however, has been growing increasingly dominant at the expense of Hebrew, not only outside Israel but in Israel as well.
The standardization of the Basque language
Authors: Hualde José Ignacio , Zuazo Koldo
Published: February 2014

The standardization process of the Basque language presents some unusual characteristics. Although some of the first authors to publish in Basque in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries explicitly remarked on the difficulties brought about by dialectal diversity, very little progress in the standardization of the language was made until the second half of the twentieth century. Even the impact of the rise of Basque nationalism at the end of the nineteenth century was not entirely positive, since the founder of the Basque Nationalist Party favored the development of a different written variety for each of the Basque provinces. The extreme puristic and neologizing tendency of some writers at the time was also a source of obstacles on the path towards standardization. A Basque language academy was founded in 1918 with the unification of the written language as one of its main goals, but it made essentially no progress until the linguist Luis Michelena (Mitxelena) presented a report to the Basque Academy in 1968 on the bases for a written standard language. From then on, other stages in the standardization process have taken place very rapidly. This new standard has enjoyed enormous success and in a few decades has become firmly established in Basque society.
Recent studies in Esperanto and interlinguistics: 2006
Authors: Tonkin Humphrey
Published: February 2014

The mainstream conduct of research on Esperanto and interlinguistics is a relatively recent phenomenon, which of late has grown easier through better access to libraries and a growing body of scholarly work. The situation of Esperanto and interlinguistics in universities remains stable. However, the years 2005 and 2006 have been marked by the passing of two major figures: Ito Kanzi in Japan and William Auld in Scotland. A survey of recent scholarship shows steady production of studies and reference works in the linguistics of Esperanto, interlinguistics, the Esperanto movement and speech community, Zamenhof studies, the history of Esperanto, Esperanto literature, translation, the teaching of Esperanto, and language policy. There has been an increase in publication on Esperanto and interlinguistics particularly in German and Russian.
Giuseppe Peano e Louis Couturat sullo sfondo della lingua internazionale
Authors: Minnaja Carlo
Published: February 2014

Molti studi hanno trattato la grande e diversificata attività del matematico italiano Giuseppe Peano, evidenziandone la genialità e l’originalità. Il suo carteggio con il filosofo francese Louis Couturat, recentemente pubblicato, maturato intorno al problema di una lingua internazionale per la comunicazione scientifica, evidenzia anche altri aspetti della personalità di Peano, ma soprattutto mette in luce l’impegno di Couturat nelle proposte di soluzione di tale problema. I due protagonisti convengono sulla necessità dell’adozione di una lingua artificiale, ma all’atto della scelta le vedute non sono più coincidenti. La nascita dell’Ido e il passaggio entusiasta al nuovo progetto da parte di Couturat, che prima era un appassionato fautore dell’esperanto, mentre Peano rimane un fautore del suo latino sine flexione, raffredda i rapporti tra i due e il loro contatto si interrompe bruscamente. Il carteggio è pubblicato con grande apparato critico, accuratezza di documentazione e acutezza di interpretazioni, anche se rimane qualche minima sbavatura. La questione se gli sforzi di Couturat e la nascita dell’Ido abbiano portato un vantaggio alla soluzione della comunicazione internazionale rimane senza una risposta definitiva.
Marco historico, base lingüística y recursos textuales para la investigación del español del suroeste
Authors: Marcos-Marín Francisco
Published: February 2014

En esta primera parte de las dos que constituyen el conjunto dedicado al análisis epistemológico de los estudios pasados y presentes sobre el español en el suroeste de los Estados Unidos de América se cubren tres aspectos. En el primero se presenta el marco geográfico-histórico, seguido de una propuesta de periodización que reformula planteamientos previos del autor. En el análisis de la base lingüística se atiende especialmente a la cuestión del español vestigial, en relación con las propuestas de criollización. En la parte final se presentan y analizan los estudios y proyectos de fuentes documentales. Tras una primera consideración histórica de la bibliografía clásica se presta atención detenida a las encuestas, sobre todo las relacionadas con la realización de atlas lingüísticos. La descripción de los recursos textuales se concentra en tres proyectos: (a) Cibola (Jerry R. Craddock, Barbara De Marco), (b) Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage (Nicolás Kanellos, Carolina Villarroel), y (c) Old Spanish Missions Historical Research Collection — Documentary Series (Center for Mexican American Studies & Research, Our Lady of the Lake University, OLLU, San Antonio, Tejas).
Gender mainstreaming in the European Union: broadening the possibilities for gender equality and/or an inherently constrained exercise?
Authors: O'Connor Julia S.
Published: February 2014

The European Union (EU) was an influential voice in advocating the adoption of gender mainstreaming by the 4th United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Since then gender mainstreaming has become a central policy plank of gender justice globally, but progress has been variable and modest. This paper examines the unfolding of gender mainstreaming in the EU, which was one of the early adopters as reflected by its commitment to gender mainstreaming in 1996. The objective is to identify patterns that may have implications for gender justice on a broader scale. The lenses are the European Employment Strategy dating from 1997 and targeted gender equality initiatives dating from the Community Framework on Gender Equality (2001–2005). Drawing on documentary analysis of these sources constraints on moving form aspiration to policy practice and outcome are identified. These are intensified by the multilevel structure of decision-making in the EU, which means that commitments agreed at the EU level are not pursed with the same fervour by all member states. But constraints are inherent in gender mainstreaming because of the contested and vague nature of the concept, the context of cross-cutting inequalities and the structural basis of these inequalities.
Multiplier ideals of monomial space curves
Authors: Thompson Howard
Published: February 2014

This paper presents a formula for the multiplier ideals of a monomial space curve. The formula is obtained from a careful choice of log resolution. We construct a toric blowup of affine space in such a way that a log resolution of the monomial curve may be constructed from this toric variety in a well controlled manner. The construction exploits a theorem of González Pérez and Teissier (2002).
Activation-induced cytidine deaminase is dispensable for virus-mediated liver and skin tumor development in mouse models
Authors: Nguyen Tung , Xu Jianliang , Chikuma Shunsuke , Hiai Hiroshi , Kinoshita Kazuo , Moriya Kyoji , Koike Kazuhiko , Marcuzzi Gian Paolo , Pfister Herbert , Honjo Tasuku , Kobayashi Maki
Published: February 2014

Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) not only promotes immune diversity by initiating somatic hypermutation and class switch recombination in immunoglobulin genes but also provokes genomic instability by introducing translocations and mutations into non-immunoglobulin genes. To test whether AID is essential for virus-induced tumor development, we used two transgenic tumor models: mice expressing hepatitis C virus (HCV) core proteins (HCV-Tg), driven by the hepatitis B virus promoter, and mice expressing human papillomavirus type 8 proteins (HPV8-Tg), driven by the Keratin 14 promoter. Both strains were analyzed in the absence and presence of AID by crossing each with AID−/− mice. There was no difference in the liver tumor frequency between the HCV-Tg/AID+/+ and HCV-Tg/AID−/− mice at 20 months of age although the AID+/+ mice showed more severe histological findings and increased cytokine expression. Furthermore, a low level of AID transcript was detected in the HCV-Tg/AID+/+ liver tissue that was not derived from hepatocytes themselves but from intra-hepatic immune cells. Although AID may not be the direct cause of HCV-induced oncogenesis, AID expressed in B cells, not in hepatocytes, may prolong steatosis and cause increased lymphocyte infiltration into HCV core protein-induced liver lesions. Similarly, there was no difference in the time course of skin tumor development between the HPV8-Tg/AID−/− and HPV8-Tg/AID+/+ groups. In conclusion, AID does not appear to be required for tumor development in the two virus-induced tumor mouse models tested although AID expressed in infiltrating B cells may promote inflammatory reactions in HCV core protein-induced liver pathogenesis.
An alternative accurate tracer of molecular clouds: the ‘XCi-factor’
Authors: Offner Stella S. R. , Bisbas Thomas G. , Bell Tom A. , Viti Serena
Published: February 2014

We explore the utility of Ci as an alternative high-fidelity gas-mass tracer for galactic molecular clouds. We evaluate the ‘XCi-factor’ for the 609 μm carbon line, the analogue of the CO ‘X-factor’, which is the ratio of the H2 column density to the integrated 12CO(1–0) line intensity. We use 3d-pdr to post-process hydrodynamic simulations of turbulent, star-forming clouds. We compare the emission of Ci and CO for model clouds irradiated by 1 and 10 times the average background and demonstrate that Ci is a comparable or superior tracer of the molecular gas distribution for column densities up to 6 × 1023 cm−2. Our results hold for both reduced and full chemical networks. For our fiducial Galactic cloud, we derive an average XCO of 3.0 × 1020 cm−2 K−1 km−1 s and XCi of 1.1 × 1021 cm−2 K−1 km−1 s.
The connection between the cusp-to-core transformation and observational universalities of DM haloes
Authors: Ogiya Go , Mori Masao , Ishiyama Tomoaki , Burkert Andreas
Published: February 2014

Observations have revealed interesting universal properties of dark matter (DM) haloes especially around low-mass galaxies. Strigari et al. showed that DM haloes have common enclosed masses within 300 pc (Strigari relation). Kormendy & Freeman reported DM haloes having almost identical central surface densities (the μ0D relation). In addition, there exists a core–cusp problem, a discrepancy of the central density distribution between simulated haloes and observations. We investigate whether a scenario where cuspy haloes transform into cores by some dynamical processes can also explain their universal structural properties. It is shown that a cusp-to-core transformation model naturally reproduces the μ0D relation and that Strigari relation follows from the μ0D relation for dwarf galaxies. We also show that the central densities of cored dark haloes provide valuable information about their formation redshifts.
Formation of the first low-mass stars from cosmological initial conditions
Authors: Safranek-Shrader Chalence , Milosavljević Miloš , Bromm Volker
Published: February 2014

We simulate the formation of a metal-poor (10−2 Z⊙) stellar cluster in one of the first galaxies to form in the early Universe, specifically a high-redshift atomic cooling halo (z ∼ 14). This is the first calculation that resolves the formation of individual metal-enriched stars in simulations starting from realistic cosmological initial conditions. We follow the evolution of a single dense clump among several in the parent halo. The clump forms a cluster of ∼40 stars and sub-stellar objects within 7000 yr and could continue forming stars ∼5 times longer. Protostellar dust heating has a negligible effect on the star formation efficiency, at least during the early evolutionary stages, but it moderately suppresses gaseous fragmentation and brown dwarf formation. We observe fragmentation in thin gaseous filaments and sustained accretion in larger, rotating structures as well as ejections by binary interactions. The stellar initial mass function above 0.1 M⊙, evaluated after ∼104 yr of fragmentation and accretion, seems in agreement with the recent measurement in ultrafaint dwarf spheroidal Galactic satellites of Geha et al.
Behavioural flexibility allows an invasive vertebrate to survive in a semi-arid environment
Authors: Webb Jonathan K. , Letnic Mike , Jessop Tim S. , Dempster Tim
Published: February 2014

Plasticity or evolution in behavioural responses are key attributes of successful animal invasions. In northern Australia, the invasive cane toad (
Rhinella marina
) recently invaded semi-arid regions. Here, cane toads endure repeated daily bouts of severe desiccation and thermal stress during the long dry season (April–October). We investigated whether cane toads have shifted their ancestral nocturnal rehydration behaviour to one that exploits water resources during the day. Such a shift in hydration behaviour could increase the fitness of individual toads by reducing exposure to desiccation and thermal stress suffered during the day even within terrestrial shelters. We used a novel method (acoustic tags) to monitor the daily hydration behaviour of 20 toads at two artificial reservoirs on Camfield station, Northern Territory. Remarkably, cane toads visited reservoirs to rehydrate during daylight hours, with peaks in activity between 9.00 and 17.00. This diurnal pattern of rehydration activity contrasts with nocturnal rehydration behaviour exhibited by adult toads in their native geographical range and more mesic parts of Australia. Our results demonstrate that cane toads phase shift a key behaviour to survive in a harsh semi-arid landscape. Behavioural phase shifts have rarely been reported in invasive species but could facilitate ongoing invasion success.
Sexually antagonistic association between paternal phenotype and offspring viability reinforces total selection on a sexually selected trait
Authors: Martin Alexandre M. , Festa-Bianchet Marco , Coltman David W. , Pelletier Fanie
Published: February 2014

The evolution of conspicuous sexually selected traits, such as horns or antlers, has fascinated biologists for more than a century. Elaborate traits can only evolve if they substantially increase reproduction, because they probably incur survival costs to the bearer. Total selection on these traits, however, includes sexual selection on sires and viability selection on offspring and can be influenced by changes in each of these components. Non-random associations between paternal phenotype and offspring viability may thus affect total selection on sexually selected traits. Long-term data on wild bighorn sheep (
Ovis canadensis
) provide the first evidence in nature that association between paternal phenotype and lamb viability strengthens total selection on horn size of adult rams, a sexually selected trait. The association of paternal horn length and offspring viability was sexually antagonistic: long-horned males sired sons with high viability but daughters of low viability. These results shed new light on the evolutionary dynamics of an iconic sexually selected trait and have important implications for sustainable wildlife management.
Efficiency of partner choice and sanctions inLotusis not altered by nitrogen fertilization
Authors: Regus John U. , Gano Kelsey A. , Hollowell Amanda C. , Sachs Joel L.
Published: February 2014

Eukaryotic hosts must exhibit control mechanisms to select against ineffective bacterial symbionts. Hosts can minimize infection by less-effective symbionts (partner choice) and can divest of uncooperative bacteria after infection (sanctions). Yet, such host-control traits are predicted to be context dependent, especially if they are costly for hosts to express or maintain. Legumes form symbiosis with rhizobia that vary in symbiotic effectiveness (nitrogen fixation) and can enforce partner choice as well as sanctions. In nature, legumes acquire fixed nitrogen from both rhizobia and soils, and nitrogen deposition is rapidly enriching soils globally. If soil nitrogen is abundant, we predict host control to be downregulated, potentially allowing invasion of ineffective symbionts. We experimentally manipulated soil nitrogen to examine context dependence in host control. We co-inoculatedLotus strigosusfrom nitrogen depauperate soils with pairs ofBradyrhizobiumstrains that vary in symbiotic effectiveness and fertilized plants with either zero nitrogen or growth maximizing nitrogen. We found efficient partner choice and sanctions regardless of nitrogen fertilization, symbiotic partner combination or growth season. Strikingly, host control was efficient even whenL. strigosusgained no significant benefit from rhizobial infection, suggesting that these traits are resilient to short-term changes in extrinsic nitrogen, whether natural or anthropogenic.
Male cognitive performance declines in the absence of sexual selection
Authors: Hollis Brian , Kawecki Tadeusz J.
Published: February 2014

Sexual selection is responsible for the evolution of male ornaments and armaments, but its role in the evolution of cognition—the ability to process, retain and use information—is largely unexplored. Because successful courtship is likely to involve processing information in complex, competitive sexual environments, we hypothesized that sexual selection contributes to the evolution and maintenance of cognitive abilities in males. To test this, we removed mate choice and mate competition from experimental populations of
Drosophila melanogaster
by enforcing monogamy for over 100 generations. Males evolved under monogamy became less proficient than polygamous control males at relatively complex cognitive tasks. When faced with one receptive and several unreceptive females, polygamous males quickly focused on receptive females, whereas monogamous males continued to direct substantial courtship effort towards unreceptive females. As a result, monogamous males were less successful in this complex setting, despite being as quick to mate as their polygamous counterparts with only one receptive female. This diminished ability to use past information was not limited to the courtship context: monogamous males (but not females) also showed reduced aversive olfactory learning ability. Our results provide direct experimental evidence that the intensity of sexual selection is an important factor in the evolution of male cognitive ability.
Was skin cancer a selective force for black pigmentation in early hominin evolution?
Authors: Greaves Mel
Published: February 2014

Melanin provides a crucial filter for solar UV radiation and its genetically determined variation influences both skin pigmentation and risk of cancer. Genetic evidence suggests that the acquisition of a highly stable melanocortin 1 receptor allele promoting black pigmentation arose around the time of savannah colonization by hominins at some 1–2 Ma. The adaptive significance of dark skin is generally believed to be protection from UV damage but the pathologies that might have had a deleterious impact on survival and/or reproductive fitness, though much debated, are uncertain. Here, I suggest that data on age-associated cancer incidence and lethality in albinos living at low latitudes in both Africa and Central America support the contention that skin cancer could have provided a potent selective force for the emergence of black skin in early hominins.