bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Instance theory and Universal Grammar in second language research
Authors: Truscott John
Published: June 2003

This article considers the possibility of applying instance theory to the study of language, second language in particular. Instance theory de-emphasizes the role of abstract principles in knowledge and its acquisition and use, focusing instead on the storage and retrieval of specific experiences, or instances. I argue that the application is feasible only if one also adopts a restrictive theory of Universal Grammar. I then present a sketch of a combined UG–instance theory approach, in which invariant aspects of UG are maintained and variability is allowed in exactly the same areas as in standard theories, but the variation occurs in pools of stored instances, not in abstract parameter values. This approach can be productively applied to various problems in language learning research, including noisy input to learners, undoing of errors during the learning process, transfer and fossilization, and the nondiscrete character of learning.
Interpretation of binding and orientation of the Chinese reflexive ziji by English and Japanese speakers
Authors: Yuan Boping
Published: June 2003

This article reports on an empirical study of the interpretation of the Chinese reflexive ziji by English and Japanese speakers. In English, reflexives can only take a local (LOC) antecedent, whereas the Chinese reflexive ziji and the Japanese reflexive zibun can have a long-distance (LD) antecedent as well as a local one. Another property of the long-distance reflexives is subject orientation. However, reflexives in English allow both subject NPs and object NPs as their antecedents. The results of the study suggest that L1 transfer occurs in second language acquisition (SLA) of the Chinese reflexive ziji. However, not everything can be explained by L1 interference. It is found that: it is much easier for Japanese speakers than for English speakers to acquire the LD binding of ziji; binding of ziji is asymmetric in finite and nonfinite clauses in English speakers' L2 grammars of Chinese; acquiring subject orientation of ziji is problematic to both English and Japanese speakers, and no implicational relationship is found between LD binding of ziji and subject orientation of ziji; LD binding of ziji entails LOC binding of ziji, and it also generally entails no LD object binding. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Dissociating syntax from morphology in a divergent L2 end-state grammar
Authors: Lardiere Donna
Published: June 2003

This article addresses current proposals in the literature suggesting that thematic verb-raising is optional in the grammars of L2 acquirers, due either to failure to acquire verbal agreement morphology or to an impairment of the mechanism relating the ‘richness’ of morphological agreement paradigms to syntactic feature strength. I examine naturalistic longitudinal production data from Patty, a native Chinese speaker whose L2 English grammar has ‘fossilized’ with regard to verbal agreement morphology. The data show that, despite the omission of regular agreement suffixation in about 96% of obligatory contexts, thematic verbs are never raised in Patty's English,thus showing no optionality of raising.The results indicate that even in cases where regular verbal morphology is neveracquired,it is still possible for the learner to determine feature strength and the status of verb-raising in the target language.
Phonological transfer and levels of representation: the perceptual acquisition of Thai voice and aspiration by English and French speakers
Authors: Curtin Suzanne , Goad Heather , Pater Joseph V.
Published: June 2003

In this article, we show that the generative phonological distinction between lexical and surface representation can explain apparently contradictory orders of acquisition of L2 voice and aspiration contrasts by native speakers of English. Cross-language speech perception research has shown that English speakers distinguish synthetic voice onset time counterparts of aspirated–unaspirated minimal pairs more readily than voiced–voiceless. Here, we present evidence that in the perceptual acquisition of the same Thai contrasts, English speakers acquire voicing before aspiration. These divergent orders are argued to be due to the levels of representation tapped by the methodologies employed in each case: surface representations in the earlier studies, and lexical in the present one. The resulting difference in outcomes is attributed to the presence of aspiration in surface, but not lexical, representations in English (Chomsky and Halle, 1968). To address the further question of whether allophonic aspiration in English aids in the eventual acquisition of contrastive aspiration in Thai, we compare the developmental progression of the English learners to that of native speakers of French, whose L1 contains only a voicing contrast, and no surface aspiration. The performance of the anglophone group improves over time, suggesting that L1 surface features can be lexicalized in L2 acquisition,even though they are not initially transferred across levels.
Case and Tense in the ‘fossilized’ steady state
Authors: Lardiere Donna
Published: June 2003

This article reviews recent SLA studies which have methodologically assumed a direct relation between the acquisition of inflectional morphology and the development of functional phrase structure in the syntax. Results from naturalistic production data collected over eight years apart are reported, establishing the ‘fossilization’ of English L2 tense morphology for an adult native Chinese speaker at a consistently very low rate of suppliance (approximately 34%) in obligatory contexts. Nevertheless, in addition to robust evidence for CP in the grammar, the data also show perfect distribution of pronominal case (100%) in all contexts, suggesting the presence of a TP bearing a fully specified [± finite] feature. Viewed in light of the steady state (in other words, where grammatical development has ‘ended up’), these results indicate that the courses of syntactic and morphological development are independent and that the mapping between them is much less direct than previously supposed. I conclude that it is this mapping itself, in the morphology or PF component, which may be imperfectly acquired, and from which a lack of functional categories or extended phrase structure development may not be inferred.
Noticing in second language acquisition: a critical review
Authors: Truscott John
Published: June 2003

This article examines the Noticing Hypothesis – the claim that second language learners must consciously notice the grammatical form of their input in order to acquire grammar. I argue, first, that the foundations of the hypothesis in cognitive psychology are weak; research in this area does not support it, or even provide a clear interpretation for it. The problem of interpreting the hypothesis is much more acute in the area of language acquisition. Partly because the hypothesis is not based on any coherent theory of language, it is very difficult to determine exactly what it means in this context,or to draw testable predictions from it.In the absence of specific predictions, research on form-focused instruction and feedback provide indirect tests, the results of which create additional problems for the hypothesis. The various problems can be eliminated or greatly reduced if the Noticing Hypothesis is reformulated as a claim that noticing is necessary for the acquisition of metalinguistic knowledge but not competence.
The emergence of tense and agreement in child L2 French
Authors: Paradis Johanne , Le Corre Mathieu , Genesee Fred
Published: June 2003

The present study examined the acquisition of tense and agreement by L2 learners of French. We looked at whether the features and and the categories AGRP and TP emerged simultaneously or in sequence in the learners' grammars.We conducted interviews with English-speaking children acquiring French as a second language and with grade-matched native-speaker controls once a year for three years. The data were analysed for the productive use of morphosyntax encoding tense and agreement. Results revealed that items encoding agreement emerged before items encoding tense, suggesting that the abstract grammatical structures associated with these morphosyntax items emerge in sequence. The findings are interpreted with respect to three prevailing views on the acquisition of functional phrase structure in L2 acquisition: the Lexical Transfer/Minimal Trees hypothesis (Vainikka and Young-Scholten, 1994; 1996a; 1996b), the Weak Transfer/Valueless Features hypothesis (Eubank, 1993/94; 1994; 1996) and the Full Transfer/Full Access hypothesis (Schwartz and Sprouse, 1994;1996). Possible reasons for the existence of this acquisition sequence in French are also discussed.
Second language acquisition and Binding Principle B: child/adult differences
Authors: White Lydia
Published: June 2003

L1 acquirers experience considerable delays in mastering properties related to Binding Principle B, performing inaccurately with respect to possible antecedents for pronouns well after the age of 6. Most accounts attribute this delay to performance phenomena (lack of pragmatic knowledge, processing capacity, etc.). In this article, I show that adult learners do not exhibit the same kinds of problems with Principle B. Intermediate-level adult learners of English as a second language (French and Japanese speakers), as well as a native-speaker control group, were tested using a truth value judgement task to determine their interpretations of pronouns. The L2 learners performed like native speakers in disallowing local antecedents for pronouns, suggesting that Principle B is not problematic in adult acquisition, in contrast to child acquisition.
Learnability, negative evidence and the L2 acquisition of the English passive
Authors: Izumi Shinichi , Lakshmanan Usha
Published: June 2003

An issue currently being debated in second language acquisition research is whether negative evidence (i.e., information to the learner that his or her utterance is ungrammatical) plays a positive role in the acquisition of the L2. Some researchers, such as White (1991a; 1991b) and Carroll and Swain (1993), have argued that negative evidence has positive effects while others (see, for example, Schwartz and Gubala-Ryzak, 1992) are sceptical about such effects. In this article, we report the results of a small-scale study that investigated the effects of formal instruction on the acquisition of the English passive by native speakers of Japanese. Japanese has both the ‘direct’ and ‘indirect passive’, whereas English only has the direct passive. The ‘indirect passive’ is possible in Japanese because of the dual status of the passive morpheme rare, which can function not only as a non-thematic (auxiliary) verbal element but also as a lexical/thematic verb. A learnability problem posed by the differences between Japanese and English is that Japanese ESL learners may initially treat the passive auxiliary be in English as being similar to rare in Japanese and thus assume that English, like Japanese, allows not only the ‘direct passive’ but also the ‘indirect passive’. Negative evidence will, therefore, be necessary in order to enable them to arrive at the correct L2 grammar. A group of Japanese ESL learners, who were pretested on the English passive, were placed in an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group was explicitly instructed on the impossibility of the indirect passive in English, whereas the control group was not. Following instruction, both groups were post-tested. The results indicated that the experimental group improved dramatically, whereas the control group did not.
The role of phonemic awareness in second language reading
Authors: Koda Keiko
Published: June 2003

This study investigates the effects of disparate L1 (first language) alphabetic experience on L2 (second language) phonemic awareness and decoding among ESL (English as a Second Language) readers with alphabetic and nonalphabetic L1 orthographic backgrounds. It was hypothesized that amount of L1 alphabetic experience is causally related to the development of L2 phonemic awareness and decoding skills. The specific objectives were threefold: to compare varying aspects of phonemic awareness among Chinese and Korean ESL learners; to explore the relationship between L2 phonemic awareness and decoding skills;and to examine the extent to which L2 text comprehension is facilitated by phonemic awareness and decoding skills. Data demonstrated that the two groups differed neither in their phonemic awareness nor in decoding;phonemic awareness was differentially related to decoding performance between the groups; and strong interconnections existed between reading comprehension, decoding and phonemic awareness among Korean participants, but no such direct relationships occurred among Chinese. Viewed collectively, these findings seem to suggest that, while differential L1 orthographic experience is not directly associated with L2 phonemic awareness, variations in prior processing experience may engender the use of diverse phonological processing procedures and, thus, account for qualitative differences in L2 processing behaviours.
Underdetermined binding of reflexives by adult Japanese-speaking learners of English
Authors: Hamilton Robert
Published: June 2003

In this article I report on an experimental study of the acquisition of English reflexives by adult Japanese-speaking learners of English. I argue that, consonant with a review of previous studies on binding in second language (L2) acquisition, the results of my experiment yield no evidence of an interlanguage grammar that is illicit with respect to Universal Grammar (UG).Moreover, I argue that a particular asymmetry in the nonlocal binding of English reflexives exhibited by the learners in this study is underdetermined with respect to both the L2 English input and learners' L1 Japanese competence in such a way as to suggest that these learners had direct access to Condition A of UG binding theory.
Interlanguage A-bar dependencies: binding construals, null prepositions and Universal Grammar
Authors: Dekydtspotter Laurent , Sprouse Rex A. , Anderson Bruce
Published: June 2003

This article argues that the ‘null prep’ phenomenon discussed by Klein (1990; 1993; 1995) and Jourdain (1996) is a special case of a more general phenomenon in second language acquisition: the reliance on the A-bar binding strategy discussed by Rizzi (1990) and Cinque (1990). This strategy is employed even where both the L1 and the target language rely (primarily) on movement analyses. We present an analysis of additional English–French interlanguage data, complementing our analysis of Klein's and Jourdain's data. We argue that apparent categorial mismatches in A-bar chains may result from Preposition Incorporation. Although both movement analyses and binding construals are squarely within the UG-constrained hypothesis space, we suggest that learners may be driven to (nonmovement) binding construals to account for A-bar dependencies for reasons associated with online computational complexity, under the assumption that a nonmovement construal derived by Merge alone is less costly than one derived by Move (Chomsky, 1995).
Null subjects, filled CPs and L2 acquisition
Authors: Roebuck Regina F. , Martínez-Arbelaiz María A. , Pérez-Silva Jorge I.
Published: June 2003

This study investigates the acquisition of a non-null-subject language (English) by speakers of two different null-subject languages (Spanish and Chinese) in light of recent research in theoretical syntax which shows that different syntactic mechanisms are at work in the expression of null subjects in these two languages. While null subjects in Spanish are manifestations of pro, in Chinese they may be pro or a null topic, the latter licensed by a topic chain (Huang, 1984; 1989). Topic chains have been shown to license null topics in other languages (Roeper and Weissenborn, 1990; Weissenborn, 1992) but cannot do so across a lexically filled CP. We propose that this difference in licensing mechanism ought to affect the acquisition of English by Chinese and Spanish speakers. Data from an elicited imitation task show that Chinese speakers significantly outperform Spanish speakers in disallowing null subjects in English. This can be attributed to the Chinese speakers' reaction to the presence of lexically filled CPs in English, which prevents them from licensing null subjects via topic chains. Spanish speakers, on the other hand, because they license null subjects via Agr (Agreement), are unaffected by lexically filled CPs in English and continue to allow null subjects. Interestingly, however, Spanish speakers at higher levels of proficiency reject null subjects in certain contexts, suggesting that reanalysis of this feature of English can and may occur.
On the reliability of grammaticality judgement tests in second language acquisition research
Authors: Mandell Paul B.
Published: June 2003

The use of grammaticality and metalinguistic judgement tests in second language acquisition (SLA) research has been the subject of considerable scrutiny over the past decade (see, for example, Chaudron, 1983; Birdsong, 1989; Ellis, 1991; Cowan and Hatasa, 1994; Gass, 1994; Davies and Kaplan, 1998).Grammaticality judgement (GJ) test data in research design are used to make inferences about the syntactic structures and rules that constitute learners’ linguistic competence, in the Chomskian sense of the word. One criticism levelled at the use of this type of test, however, is that they are not reliable measures of linguistic competence.

The present study compared GJ test data with dehydrated sentence (DS) test data, an assessment tool commonly used in the L2 (second language) classroom. Data were collected from three levels (second, fourth and sixth semester) of adult L2 learners of Spanish about verb movement (Vmovement). The results from the comparison of the two tests indicated that GJ data are reliable measures of linguistic knowledge.
Assessing L2 knowledge of Spanish clitic placement: converging methodologies
Authors: Duffield Nigel , White Lydia
Published: June 2003

In this paper, we report on an experiment investigating adult second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish object clitic placement by native speakers of English (which lacks clitics) and French (where clitics contrast in certain respects with Spanish). Two different experimental methodologies are compared: an on-line sentence matching (SM) task and an off-line grammaticality judgement (GJ) task. Subjects were advanced and intermediate level English-speaking and French-speaking learners of Spanish, together with a native-speaker control group. A variety of constructions involving Spanish clitic placement were tested. The results from the two tasks complement each other: all groups show significant effects for grammaticality on the SM task and considerable accuracy on the GJ task, suggesting that L2 clitic placement can successfully be acquired even when the first language (L1) lacks clitics. However, both tasks reveal that L2 learners have difficulties in restructuring and causative contexts, which we attribute to problems with clitic climbing.
Exploring native and non-native intuitions of word frequency
Authors: Schmitt Norbert , Dunham Bruce
Published: June 2003

Native speakers have intuitions about how frequently words occur in their language, but methodological limitations have not previously allowed a detailed description of these intuitions. This study asked native and non-native speakers to give judgements of frequency for near synonyms in 12 lexical sets and compared those responses to modern corpus word counts. The native speakers were able to discern the core word in the lexical sets either 77% or 85% of the time, depending on whether the core word was the reference against which the other words in the set were judged, with the non-native results at 71% and 79%. The correlation between the native speakers' ratings and corpus data was .530, which calls into question the higher results from previous studies. The non-native correlation was .577. A Hellinger distance procedure demonstrated generally good judgements of absolute frequency on an individual word basis. Contrary to previous findings, the correlation and Hellinger analyses indicate that natives are not homogeneous in their frequency intuitions, with education one apparent differentiating factor. The results suggest that, for lexical sets in which all words were rated, educated non-natives have intuitions of word frequency which are as good or better than natives with less education, while educated natives have better frequency intuitions than their educated non-native counterparts.
Causative errors with unaccusative verbs in L2 Spanish
Authors: Montrul Silvina
Published: June 2003

Unaccusative verbs do not form a homogeneous class with respect to the syntactic constructions in which they may appear. Change of state unaccusatives alternate in transitivity ( romper ‘break’), others have a suppletive causative counterpart for the transitive variant ( morir-matar ‘diekill’), while still others do not alternate and do not have lexically unrelated counterparts ( escapar ‘escape’). It has been documented that L1 and L2 learners of English use intransitive verbs in causative contexts ( Don't giggle me, Come it closer), due to the existence of the alternating class. Using a Picture Judgement Task,the present study investigates whether intermediate Turkish-speaking and English-speaking learners of Spanish know which unaccusative verbs alternate in transitivity and which ones do not, and whether they find causative errors natural with intransitive verbs. Results confirm similar findings to those reported in English interlanguage and L1 acquisition and suggest that at the level of argument structure, L1 and L2 acquisition are guided by the same linguistic principles; L1 influence plays a significant role with the reflexive morphology of intransitive forms. It is argued that transfer might not operate uniformly in all linguistic domains in interlanguage grammars (Schwartz and Sprouse, 1996).
Access to UG and language transfer: a study of L2 learners' interpretation of reconstruction in Chinese
Authors: Ying H. G.
Published: June 2003

Twenty-seven English-speaking learners of Chinese (the experimental groups) and 20 native speakers of Chinese (the control group) participated in a study that investigated second language learners' knowledge of reconstruction (NP and predicate fronted sentences with ziji ‘self’) in Chinese. Results of a sentence interpretation task indicate that English-speaking learners of Chinese had knowledge of ambiguity of antecedence of ziji inside a moved predicate, and lack of ambiguity of antecedence of ziji inside a moved NP, although such information is not directly available in English. While the experiment produced evidence that they appeared to have access to Universal Grammar, English-speaking learners of Chinese bound ziji in non-movement sentences to an embedded subject, indicating that they mapped the narrower setting of reflexives in English onto a wider parameter setting of ziji in Chinese.
From SOV to SVO: the grammar of interlanguage word order
Authors: Camacho José
Published: June 2003

This paper analyses the grammatical outcome of the conflict speakers of a head-final L1 (Southern Quechua) face when learning a head-initial target (Standard Spanish) in a naturalistic setting. It proposes that interlanguage sentential word orders reflect a transfer of two independent parameters from the L1: the possibility of having null objects with definite/specific antecedents and a feature triggering object movement for sentential focus. The second parameter can be successfully reset through contradictory evidence; the first one, however, cannot, since target evidence is compatible with the L1 setting. This data can better be accounted for in Schwartz and Sprouse's full-access/full-transfer model (Schwartz and Sprouse, 1994; 1996) than in other alternatives such as Vainikka and Young-Scholten's (1994) minimal trees hypothesis and Eubank's (1994; 1996) valueless features hypothesis.
The parameter of aspect in second language acquisition
Authors: Slabakova Roumyana
Published: June 2003

The goal of this article is to present a detailed study of the second language acquisition (SLA) of English aspect by native speakers of Slavic languages. A parameterized distinction between English and Slavic aspect accounts for the subtle differences between English and Slavic telic and atelic sentences. Based on a syntax-theoretical treatment of aspect, the article investigates the process of SLA of aspect in Slavic speakers at three levels of proficiency in English: low intermediate, high intermediate and advanced. Second language (L2) learners are found to be capable of resetting the aspectual parameter value to the English setting, thus successfully acquiring a property of language almost never taught in language classrooms. The article also studies the acquisition of a cluster of constructions, which syntactic research relates to the English value of the aspectual parameter, and which have been found to appear together in the speech of English children (Snyder and Stromswold, 1997): double objects, verb–particles and resultatives. Results indicate that each of these constructions forms part of this aspect-related cluster and that knowledge of aspect and knowledge of the cluster co-occur. The results of the experimental study bring new evidence to bear on the theoretical choice between direct access to the L2 value (Epstein et al., 1996; Flynn, 1996) or starting out the process of acquisition with the L1 value of a parameter (Schwartz & Sprouse, 1994;1996),supporting the latter view.
Interand intra-population consistency: a comment on Kanno (1998)
Authors: Kellerman Eric , Yoshioka Kaoru
Published: June 2003

An article in the last Second Language Research (Kanno, 1998) describes studies in which American adult learners of Japanese in Hawai’i are tested for their knowledge of two UG principles: the Empty Category Principle and the Overt Pronoun Constraint.Kanno shows that native-like knowledge on the part of a learner of the workings of the one principle will not necessarily guarantee that the same individual will have knowledge of the other principle at the same point in time. Therefore, learners are not ‘laterally consistent’. Furthermore, where learners do demonstrate knowledge of a principle at Time 1, they may not do so at Time 2. Thus, says Kanno, there is also a problem of ‘longitudinal consistency’.However, in our comment on Kanno’s paper, we suggest that another form of ‘lateral inconsistency’, which arises from a failure to replicate Kanno’s findings for the ECP in another population of adult learners, constitutes a further muddying of the waters in the UG accessibility debate.
Putting ‘input’ in its proper place
Authors: Carroll Susanne E.
Published: June 2003

Every theory of second language acquisition (SLA) hypothesizes that learners come to know the properties of a language by being exposed to instances of it in meaningful conversation. Within SLA, the standard analysis of the ‘input question’ appears to be that input equals objective properties of the stimulus array less the effects of selective attention (the intake). In this paper, I offer a critique of the standard analysis. I claim that it is not interpretable in the absence of a theory of mental representation, theories of speech perception and language parsing, and a theory of language learning. I show that it cannot account for aspects of signal detection, phonetic or phonological learning. The standard treatment is essentially pretheoretical. I define an alternative position which distinguishes input to speech processing and input to language-learning mechanisms, drawing on the Autonomous Induction Theory – a novel theory of learning which is compatible with a modular view of processing and a view of linguistic cognition based on Universal Grammar (UG).
L1/L2 Spanish grammars and the pragmatic deficit hypothesis
Authors: Liceras J. M. , Valenzuela E. , Díaz L.
Published: June 2003

In recent research on primary (L1) and non-primary (L2) acquisition,special attention has been given to whether syntactic development is subject to a continuity condition. While it has been proposed that the continuity condition applies to both L1 and L2 syntactic growth,the changes that take place in developing grammars have sometimes been attributed to other cognitive systems. Specifically, it has been proposed that child grammars are ‘underspecified’ because they lack a pragmatic principle which determines the range of indices available for establishing verbal and nominal coreference. According to this proposal, a grammar which is underspecified for Number has null subjects and bare NPs only with non-inflected verb forms. Assuming that adults will not have a pragmatic deficit of the kind proposed for children, we have analysed data from child L1 Spanish and adult L2 Spanish. The results of our analysis show that: (1) in child L1 Spanish, the feature Person may encode Number so that when Person is distinctively implemented, root infinitives and bare NP subjects will cease to occur. However, the pervasive morphology of Spanish verbs conspires against the possibility of providing clear-cut evidence for underspecification in the case of child Spanish; (2) the different nature of L1 and L2 root infinitives may provide partial evidence for underspecification in the case of L1 Spanish; and (3) in the case of L2 learners, the distribution of null and overt subjects seems to be partially determined by their L1 rather than by underspecification.
Connectionism and French gender attribution: Sokolik and Smith re-visited
Authors: Matthews Clive A.
Published: June 2003

Sokolik and Smith (1992) report on a connectionist model of the acquisition of French gender attribution which has been widely reported to have shown that such models are ‘capable of learning the gender of a large set of French nouns’. These claims are examined by reference to various results gained through a number of extensions to their network model. These results suggest a degree of caution in accepting Sokolik and Smith's conclusions. Further discussion suggests that the search for a computational account of gender attribution is, perhaps, misguided.
Null anaphora in Spanish second language acquisition: probabilistic versus generative approaches
Authors: Pérez-Leroux Ana T. , Glass William R.
Published: June 2003

The acquisition of Spanish null pronouns is an optimal domain for comparing the predictions of generativist vs. probabilistic approaches to language acquisition. This paper presents two studies on the acquisition of null subjects by English adult learners of Spanish as a second language. The first investigates a low frequency construction in which the antecedent of the pronoun is a quantifier, and the distribution is regulated by a principle of UG. The second looks at a high frequency context,where the distribution of the null pronoun depends on whether it is interpreted as focus or as discourse topic. The data indicate early mastery, and no development in the case of the low frequency quantifier construction, and gradual acquisition for the distribution of pronouns in discourse. These findings lend support to grammatical as opposed to probabilistic approaches to language learning.
Topic-drop versus pro-drop: null subjects and pronominal subjects in the Spanish L2 of Chinese, English, French, German and Japanese speakers
Authors: Liceras Juana M. , Díaz Lourdes
Published: June 2003

Recent developments within the so-called Principles and Parameters model of acquisition argue for a clear-cut separation of Universal Grammar (UG) principles from parametric options and locate all parameters within functional categories (Borer, 1984; Lebeaux, 1988; Chomsky, 1991). This has led Tsimpli and Roussou (1991) to propose that adult L2 (second language) learners have access to UG principles but do not reset the parameters of the L2, which amounts to saying that null subjects in the adult Spanish L2 may or may not have the same status as native Spanish null subjects, depending on the speakers’ L1 (first language) and the UG principles at stake. In the case of L1 acquisition, Rizzi (1994) and Hyams (1994) provide a competence account of null subjects in early child English which relate them to adult English Diary Drop and German-style topic-drop rather than to Spanish-style pro-drop. They specifically argue that these missing subjects are restricted to the first position of non- wh root clauses and that fixing the null subject parameter will consist of incorporating the ROOT=CP principle into this grammar. In this paper, we analyse the Spanish L2 oral spontaneous data produced by adult L1 speakers of pro-drop and topic-drop languages in an attempt to provide a competence account of null subjects in adult nonnative Spanish. Our data show that, unlike early English grammars, all the Spanish non-native grammars contain null subjects both in matrix and subordinate clauses, and that this is the case at the early and advanced stages. It also shows that many non-native pronominal subjects do not have the same value as native Spanish subjects and that subject pronouns are used for identification purposes. It is suggested that these data provide evidence for a model of L2 acquisition where adult non-native grammar construction resorts to a default licensing procedure which allows null pronouns provided they can be identified.
Glucose-Dependent Insulinotropic Polypeptide Promotes β-(INS-1) Cell Survival via Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate-Mediated Caspase-3 Inhibition and Regulation of p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase
Authors: Ehses Jan A. , Casilla Vanbric R. , Doty Tim , Pospisilik J. Andrew , Winter Kyle D. , Demuth Hans-Ulrich , Pederson Raymond A. , McIntosh Christopher H. S.
Published: June 2003

The incretin glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) is a major regulator of postprandial insulin secretion in mammals. Recent studies in our laboratory, and others have suggested that GIP is a potent stimulus for protein kinase activation, including the MAPK (ERK1/2) module. Based on these studies, we hypothesized that GIP could regulate cell fate and sought to examine the underlying mechanisms involved in GIP stimulation of cell survival. GIP potentiated glucose-induced β-(INS-1)-cell growth to levels comparable with GH and GLP-1 while promoting cell survival in the face of serum and glucose-deprivation or treatment with wortmannin or streptozotocin. In the absence of GIP, 50% of cells died after 48 h of serum and glucose withdrawal, whereas 91 ± 10% of cells remained viable in the presence of GIP [n = 3, P < 0.05; EC50 of 1.24 ± 0.48 nm GIP (n = 4)]. Effects of GIP on cell survival and inhibition of caspase-3 were mimicked by forskolin, but pharmacological experiments excluded roles for MAPK kinase (Mek)1/2, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, protein kinase A, Epac, and Rap 1. Survival effects of GIP were ablated by the inhibitor SB202190, indicating a role for p38 MAPK. Furthermore, caspase-3 activity was also regulated by p38 MAPK, with a lesser role for Mek1/2, based on RNA interference studies. We propose that GIP is able to reverse caspase-3 activation via inhibition of long-term p38 MAPK phosphorylation in response to glucose deprivation (±wortmannin). Intriguingly, these findings contrasted with short-term phosphorylation of MKK3/6→p38 MAPK→ATF-2 by GIP. Thus, these data suggest that GIP is able to regulate INS-1 cell survival by dynamic control of p38 MAPK phosphorylation via cAMP signaling and lend further support to the notion that GIP regulation of MAPK signaling is critical for its regulation of cell fate.
Multiple Determinants for Rapid Agonist-Induced Internalization of a Nonmammalian Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Receptor: A Putative Palmitoylation Site and Threonine Doublet within the Carboxyl-Terminal Tail Are Critical
Authors: Pawson Adam J. , Maudsley Stuart R. , Lopes John , Katz Arieh A. , Sun Yuh-Man , Davidson James S. , Millar Robert P.
Published: June 2003

The chicken GnRH receptor (cGnRH-R) differs from all mammalian GnRH-Rs in possessing a cytoplasmic carboxyl-terminal tail. We have previously demonstrated that the cGnRH-R undergoes more rapid agonist-induced internalization than the mammalian GnRH-Rs and requires the carboxyl-terminal tail for this process. To investigate the structural determinants mediating this rapid internalization, a series of mutant receptors was generated, including progressive truncations of the tail and substitution of serine and threonine residues with alanine. Truncation of the carboxyl-terminal tail to position 366 and then to position 356 resulted in a progressive attenuation of the rate and total extent of receptor internalization. However, truncation between positions 356 and 346 did not alter the kinetics of internalization further, whereas a further truncation to position 337 resulted in an additional marked reduction of internalization. We show that the membrane-proximal Cys328 and the Thr369Thr370 doublet located in the distal carboxyl terminus play a critical role in mediating rapid internalization. We demonstrate that the cGnRH-R, when expressed in both COS-7 and HEK 293 cells, preferentially undergoes rapid agonist-induced internalization in a caveolae-like, dynamin-dependent manner. These conclusions are based on our observation that pretreatments with filipin and methyl-β-cyclodextrin, agents that disrupt lipid rafts such as caveolae, and coexpression of dominant-negative dynamin-1 (K44A) and caveolin-1 (Δ1–81) mutants, effectively inhibited rapid agonist-induced internalization. Furthermore, cGnRH-Rs appeared to be mobilized to the β-arrestin- and clathrin-coated, vesicle-mediated endocytic pathway upon β-arrestin overexpression.
Mastoparan-Induced Insulin Secretion from Insulin-Secreting βTC3 and INS-1 Cells: Evidence for Its Regulation by Rho Subfamily of G Proteins
Authors: Amin Rajesh H. , Chen Hai-Qing , Veluthakal Rajakrishnan , Silver Robert B. , Li Jingsong , Li GuoDong , Kowluru Anjaneyulu
Published: June 2003

Mastoparan, a tetradecapeptide from wasp venom, stimulates insulin secretion from the islet β-cells, presumably via activation of trimeric G proteins. Herein, we used Clostridial toxins, which selectively modify and inactivate the Rho subfamily of G proteins, to examine whether mastoparan-induced insulin secretion also involves activation of these signaling proteins. Mastoparan, but not mastoparan 17 (an inactive analog of mastoparan), significantly stimulated insulin secretion from βTC3 and INS-1 cells. Preincubation of βTC3 cells with either Clostridium difficille toxin B, which inactivates Rho, Cdc42, and Rac, or Clostridium sordellii toxin, which inactivates Ras, Rap, and Rac, markedly attenuated the mastoparan-induced insulin secretion, implicating Rac in this phenomenon. Mastoparan-stimulated insulin secretion was resistant to GGTI-2147, a specific inhibitor of geranylgeranylation of Rho G proteins (e.g. Rac), suggesting that mastoparan induces direct activation of Rac via GTP/GDP exchange. This was confirmed by a pull-down assay that quantifies the binding of activated (i.e. GTP-bound) Rac to p21-activated kinase. However, glucose-induced insulin secretion from these cells was abolished by toxin B or GGTI-2147, suggesting that the geranylgeranylation step is critical for glucose-stimulated secretion. Mastoparan significantly increased the translocation of cytosolic Rac and Cdc42 to the membrane fraction. Confocal light microscopy revealed a substantial degree of colocalization of Rac (and, to a lesser degree, Cdc42) with insulin in β-cells exposed to mastoparan. Further, stable expression of a dominant negative (N17Rac) form of Rac into INS-1 cells resulted in a significant reduction in mastoparan-stimulated insulin secretion from these cells. Taken together, our findings implicate Rho G proteins, specifically Rac, in mastoparan-induced insulin release.
Prepubertal Administration of Estradiol Valerate Disrupts Cyclicity and Leads to Cystic Ovarian Morphology during Adult Life in the Rat: Role of Sympathetic Innervation
Authors: Rosa-e-Silva Alzira , Guimaraes Marco Aurelio , Padmanabhan Vasantha , Lara Hernán E.
Published: June 2003

Administration of estradiol valerate (EV) to adult rats leads to anovulation and cystic ovarian morphology. Sympathetic ovarian nerve denervation (SONX) overcomes this disruption. In this study, we determined whether EV administration to juvenile rats prevents achievement of reproductive competence, disrupts cyclicity, and whether this programming is facilitated via activation of the sympathetic nerve input to the ovary. Prepubertal rats were administered 2 mg EV in corn oil or corn oil alone. One half of the animals from each group underwent SONX on d 71 of life. Rats were euthanized on d 91 for determination of serum gonadotropins, progesterone, Δ4 androstenedione, and estradiol concentrations, ovarian norepinephrine (NE), and 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSD) activities and ovarian dynamics. Results revealed that EV administration during juvenile period advanced pubertal onset, suppressed circulating LH, FSH, and Δ4 androstenedione, increased ovarian NE, estradiol, and 3β-HSD activities, disrupted ovarian dynamics evidenced as absent corpus luteum and presence of ovarian cysts and culminated in anovulation. SONX restored cyclicity in these animals, normalized LH, estradiol, ovarian 3β-HSD activities, and ovarian dynamics as evidenced by the disappearance of ovarian cysts and appearance of corpus luteum and restored corpus luteum function. These findings provide evidence that EV exposure during juvenile life leads to long-lasting deleterious reproductive consequences via activation of the sympathetic ovarian nerve.
Circadian Clock Genes and Photoperiodism: Comprehensive Analysis of Clock Gene Expression in the Mediobasal Hypothalamus, the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus, and the Pineal Gland of Japanese Quail under Various Light Schedules
Authors: Yasuo Shinobu , Watanabe Miwa , Okabayashi Naritoshi , Ebihara Shizufumi , Yoshimura Takashi
Published: June 2003

In birds, the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) including the infundibular nucleus, inferior hypothalamic nucleus, and median eminence is considered to be an important center that controls the photoperiodic time measurement. Here we show expression patterns of circadian clock genes in the MBH, putative suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), and pineal gland, which constitute the circadian pacemaker under various light schedules. Although expression patterns of clock genes were different between long and short photoperiod in the SCN and pineal gland, the results were not consistent with those under night interruption schedule, which causes testicular growth. These results indicate that different expression patterns of the circadian clock genes in the SCN and pineal gland are not an absolute requirement for encoding and decoding of seasonal information. In contrast, expression patterns of clock genes in the MBH were stable under various light conditions, which enables animals to keep a steady-state photoinducible phase.
Leptin Modulates Inflammatory Cytokine and Neuroendocrine Responses to Endotoxin in the Primate
Authors: Xiao Ennian , Xia-Zhang Linna , Vulliémoz Nicolas R. , Ferin Michel , Wardlaw Sharon L.
Published: June 2003

Leptin, which plays a crucial role in regulating energy balance, can also modulate the inflammatory response. Although leptin-deficient rodents are more sensitive to the toxic effects of bacterial endotoxin, it is unknown if leptin can modulate inflammatory cytokine or neuroendocrine responses to inflammation in a primate model. We have therefore studied the effects of leptin on plasma cytokine and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal responses to endotoxin (5 μg iv) in nine ovariectomized rhesus monkeys. Human leptin (50 μg/h) or saline was infused iv for 16 h before and 4 h after endotoxin injection; mean plasma leptin increased from 3.6 ± 1.0 ng/ml to 18 ± 1.7 ng/ml (P < 0.001). Leptin infusion had no effect on baseline plasma cytokine and hormone levels before endotoxin injection. As expected, endotoxin stimulated TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra), ACTH, and cortisol in the saline-infused animals (P < 0.001). There was a significant attenuation of the IL-6 (P < 0.005) and cortisol (P < 0.001) responses (repeated measures ANOVA) to endotoxin in the leptin-infused animals. There was a significant reduction (by paired analysis) in the responses of the leptin compared with saline-treated animals: 47% for TNF-α, 48% for IL-6, 30% for IL1ra, 42% for ACTH, and 22% for cortisol (P < 0.05). We conclude that an increase in circulating leptin, within the physiological range of our monkey colony, can blunt the inflammatory cytokine and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal responses to an inflammatory challenge. These results, coupled with our recent finding that endotoxin stimulates leptin release in the monkey, demonstrate that leptin can be both released in response to inflammatory cytokines and act to attenuate the responses to these cytokines.
Dominant Inhibition of Thyroid Hormone Action Selectively in the Pituitary of Thyroid Hormone Receptor-β Null Mice Abolishes the Regulation of Thyrotropin by Thyroid Hormone
Authors: Abel E. Dale , Moura Egberto G. , Ahima Rexford S. , Campos-Barros Angel , Pazos-Moura Carmen C. , Boers Mary-Ellen , Kaulbach Helen C. , Forrest Douglas , Wondisford Fredric E.
Published: June 2003

Thyroid hormones, T4 and T3, regulate their own production by feedback inhibition of TSH and TRH synthesis in the pituitary and hypothalamus when T3 binds to thyroid hormone receptors (TRs) that interact with the promoters of the genes for the TSH subunit and TRH. All TR isoforms are believed to be involved in the regulation of this endocrine axis, as evidenced by the massive dysregulation of TSH production in mice lacking all TR isoforms. However, the relative contributions of TR isoforms in the pituitary vs. the hypothalamus remain to be completely elucidated. Thus, to determine the relative contribution of pituitary expression of TR-α in the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis, we selectively impaired TR-α function in TR-β null mice (TR-β−/−) by pituitary restricted expression of a dominant negative TR-β transgene harboring a Δ337T mutation. These animals exhibited 10-fold and 32-fold increase in T4 and TSH concentrations, respectively. Moreover, the negative regulation of TSH by exogenous T3 was completely absent and a paradoxical increase in TSH concentrations and TSH-β mRNA was observed. In contrast, prepro-TRH expression levels in T3-treated TR-β−/− were similar to levels observed in the Δ337/TR-β−/− mice, and ligand-independent activation of TSH in hypothyroid mice was equivalently impaired. Thus, isolated TR-β deficiency in TRH paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus neurons and impaired function of all TRs in the pituitary recapitulate the baseline hormonal disturbances that characterize mice with complete absence of all TRs.
Polythioamide as a Collector for Valuable Metals from Aqueous and Organic Solutions
Authors: Kagaya Shigehiro , Sato Emi , Masore Ikumi , Hasegawa Kiyoshi , Kanbara Takaki
Published: June 2003

Polythioamides could effectively collect gold(III) and platinum(IV) from not only aqueous but also organic solutions. The collection of gold(III) from synthetic organic liquid waste was demonstrated.
Allylation of Aldehydes Catalyzed by Zeolites under Liquid Phase
Authors: Sasidharan M , Tatsumi Takashi
Published: June 2003

Dealuminated zeolite-Y exchanged with rare earth metals (RE-Y) is found to catalyze the allylation of different aldehydes using allyltrimethylsilane to afford the corresponding allylic compounds in moderate to good yields by refluxing in nitromethane.