bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
New Hybrid Nanomaterial Based on Self-Assembly of Cyclodextrins and Cobalt Prussian Blue Analogue Nanocubes
Authors: Carvalho Caio , Silva Anna , Macedo Lucyano , Luz Roberto , Neto José , Filho Ubirajara , Cantanhêde Welter
Published: June 2015

Supramolecular self-assembly has been demonstrated to be a useful approach to developing new functional nanomaterials. In this work, we used a cobalt Prussian blue analogue (PBA, Co3[Co(CN)6]2) compound and a β-cyclodextrin (CD) macrocycle to develop a novel host-guest PBA-CD nanomaterial. The preparation of the functional magnetic material involved the self-assembly of CD molecules onto a PBA surface by a co-precipitation method. According to transmission electronic microscopy results, PBA-CD exhibited a polydisperse structure composed of 3D nanocubes with a mean edge length of 85 nm, which became shorter after CD incorporation. The supramolecular arrangement and structural, crystalline and thermal properties of the hybrid material were studied in detail by vibrational and electronic spectroscopies and X-ray diffraction. The cyclic voltammogram of the hybrid material in a 0.1 mol·L−1 NaCl supporting electrolyte exhibited a quasi-reversible redox process, attributed to Co2+/Co3+ conversion, with an E1/2 value of 0.46 V (vs. SCE), with higher reversibility observed for the system in the presence of CD. The standard rate constants for PBA and PBA-CD were determined to be 0.07 and 0.13 s−1, respectively, which suggests that the interaction between the nanocubes and CD at the supramolecular level improves electron transfer. We expect that the properties observed for the hybrid material make it a potential candidate for (bio)sensing designs with a desirable capability for drug delivery.
The Effect of Diagnostic Absorbed Doses from 131I on Human Thyrocytes in Vitro
Authors: Adamczewski Zbigniew , Stasiołek Mariusz , Karwowski Bolesław , Dedecjus Marek , Orszulak-Michalak Daria , Merecz Anna , Śliwka Przemysław , Puła Bartosz , Lewiński Andrzej
Published: June 2015

Background: Administration of diagnostic activities of 131I, performed in order to detect thyroid remnants after surgery and/or thyroid cancer recurrence/metastases, may lead to reduction of iodine uptake. This phenomenon is called “thyroid stunning”. We estimated radiation absorbed dose-dependent changes in genetic material, in particular in sodium iodide symporter (NIS) gene promoter, and NIS protein level in human thyrocytes (HT). Materials and Methods: We used unmodified HT isolated from patients subjected to thyroidectomy exposed to 131I in culture. The different 131I activities applied were calculated to result in absorbed doses of 5, 10, and 20 Gy. Results: According to flow cytometry analysis and comet assay, 131I did not influence the HT viability in culture. Temporary increase of 8-oxo-dG concentration in HT directly after 24 h (p < 0.05) and increase in the number of AP-sites 72 h after termination of exposition to 20 Gy dose (p < 0.0001) were observed. The signs of dose-dependent DNA damage were not associated with essential changes in the NIS expression on mRNA and protein levels. Conclusions: Our observation constitutes a first attempt to evaluate the effect of the absorbed dose of 131I on HT. The results have not confirmed the theory that the “thyroid stunning” reduces the NIS protein synthesis.
Listeria Meningitis Complicating Alemtuzumab Treatment in Multiple Sclerosis—Report of Two Cases
Authors: Rau Daniela , Lang Michael , Harth Andreas , Naumann Markus , Weber Frank , Tumani Hayrettin , Bayas Antonios
Published: June 2015

Alemtuzumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting the surface molecule CD52, leads to a rapid depletion of immune cells in the innate and adaptive immune system. In phase 2 and 3 trials in multiple sclerosis (MS), infections have been reported more frequently in alemtuzumab than in interferon beta treated patients. Here we report two patients treated with alemtuzumab for MS developing Listeria meningitis few days after the first infusion cycle. Both patients recovered completely after prompt diagnosis and adequate treatment. Physicians and patients should be aware of this serious, but treatable complication.
Accuracy of Digital Impressions and Fitness of Single Crowns Based on Digital Impressions
Authors: Yang Xin , Lv Pin , Liu Yihong , Si Wenjie , Feng Hailan
Published: June 2015

In this study, the accuracy (precision and trueness) of digital impressions and the fitness of single crowns manufactured based on digital impressions were evaluated. #14-17 epoxy resin dentitions were made, while full-crown preparations of extracted natural teeth were embedded at #16. (1) To assess precision, deviations among repeated scan models made by intraoral scanner TRIOS and MHT and model scanner D700 and inEos were calculated through best-fit algorithm and three-dimensional (3D) comparison. Root mean square (RMS) and color-coded difference images were offered. (2) To assess trueness, micro computed tomography (micro-CT) was used to get the reference model (REF). Deviations between REF and repeated scan models (from (1)) were calculated. (3) To assess fitness, single crowns were manufactured based on TRIOS, MHT, D700 and inEos scan models. The adhesive gaps were evaluated under stereomicroscope after cross-sectioned. Digital impressions showed lower precision and better trueness. Except for MHT, the means of RMS for precision were lower than 10 μm. Digital impressions showed better internal fitness. Fitness of single crowns based on digital impressions was up to clinical standard. Digital impressions could be an alternative method for single crowns manufacturing.
Singular Bilinear Integrals in Quantum Physics
Authors: Jefferies Brian
Published: June 2015

Bilinear integrals of operator-valued functions with respect to spectral measures and integrals of scalar functions with respect to the product of two spectral measures arise in many problems in scattering theory and spectral analysis. Unfortunately, the theory of bilinear integration with respect to a vector measure originating from the work of Bartle cannot be applied due to the singular variational properties of spectral measures. In this work, it is shown how ``decoupled'' bilinear integration may be used to find solutions \(X\) of operator equations \(AX-XB=Y\) with respect to the spectral measure of \(A\) and to apply such representations to the spectral decomposition of block operator matrices. A new proof is given of Peller's characterisation of the space \(L^1((P\otimes Q)_{\mathcal L(\mathcal H)})\) of double operator integrable functions for spectral measures \(P\), \(Q\) acting in a Hilbert space \(\mathcal H\) and applied to the representation of the trace of \(\int_{\Lambda\times\Lambda}\varphi\,d(PTP)\) for a trace class operator \(T\). The method of double operator integrals due to Birman and Solomyak is used to obtain an elementary proof of the existence of Krein's spectral shift function.
A Novel Feature Extraction Approach Using Window Function Capturing and QPSO-SVM for Enhancing Electronic Nose Performance
Authors: Guo Xiuzhen , Peng Chao , Zhang Songlin , Yan Jia , Duan Shukai , Wang Lidan , Jia Pengfei , Tian Fengchun
Published: June 2015

In this paper, a novel feature extraction approach which can be referred to as moving window function capturing (MWFC) has been proposed to analyze signals of an electronic nose (E-nose) used for detecting types of infectious pathogens in rat wounds. Meanwhile, a quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) algorithm is implemented in conjunction with support vector machine (SVM) for realizing a synchronization optimization of the sensor array and SVM model parameters. The results prove the efficacy of the proposed method for E-nose feature extraction, which can lead to a higher classification accuracy rate compared to other established techniques. Meanwhile it is interesting to note that different classification results can be obtained by changing the types, widths or positions of windows. By selecting the optimum window function for the sensor response, the performance of an E-nose can be enhanced.
A Novel Machine Vision System for the Inspection of Micro-Spray Nozzle
Authors: Huang Kuo-Yi , Ye Yu-Ting
Published: June 2015

In this study, we present an application of neural network and image processing techniques for detecting the defects of an internal micro-spray nozzle. The defect regions were segmented by Canny edge detection, a randomized algorithm for detecting circles and a circle inspection (CI) algorithm. The gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) was further used to evaluate the texture features of the segmented region. These texture features (contrast, entropy, energy), color features (mean and variance of gray level) and geometric features (distance variance, mean diameter and diameter ratio) were used in the classification procedures. A back-propagation neural network classifier was employed to detect the defects of micro-spray nozzles. The methodology presented herein effectively works for detecting micro-spray nozzle defects to an accuracy of 90.71%.
An Integrated Model to Explain How Corporate Social Responsibility Affects Corporate Financial Performance
Authors: Lin Chin-Shien , Chang Ruei-Yuan , Dang Van
Published: June 2015

The effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on financial performance has important implications for enterprises, communities, and countries, and the significance of this issue cannot be ignored. Therefore, this paper proposes an integrated model to explain the influence of CSR on financial performance with intellectual capital as a mediator and industry type as a moderator. Empirical results indicate that intellectual capital mediates the relationship between CSR and financial performance, and industry type moderates the direct influence of CSR on financial performance. Such results have critical implications for both academia and practice.
Ecosystem Services Evaluation and Its Spatial Characteristics in Central Asia’s Arid Regions: A Case Study in Altay Prefecture, China
Authors: Fu Qi , Li Bo , Yang Linlin , Wu Zhilong , Zhang Xinshi
Published: June 2015

Ecosystem services are important foundations to realize the sustainable development of economy and society. The question of how to quantitatively evaluate ecosystem services in a scientific way is a hot topic among international researchers. Studying the spatial characteristics of ecosystem services in arid regions can provide the theoretical and practical basis for coordinating a sustainable man-land relationship. Altay Prefecture of China, a typical arid region in Central Asia, was taken as the study area. It is on the Silk Road economic belt, which is a key region in the program of developing Western China. Three ecosystem services: water yield, soil conservation, and net primary productivity were quantitatively evaluated. The results show that (1) the spatial distribution pattern has a distinct characteristic of zonality; (2) mountain zone and mountain-oasis ecotone are the hotspots of ecosystem services; and (3) the correlation between water yield and net primary productivity shows a gradual increasing trend as altitude decreases. Objective analysis from the aspect of mechanism is given by discussing the causes of this particular pattern. It is found that altitude and slope have great influence on spatial distributions of ecosystem services, zones with the most amount of services are distributed in 1.5–2 km-altitude and 15–25°-slope. Different human activities in different regions and spatial distance decay of ecosystem services also contribute to the formation of spatial pattern. Thus, overgrazing, logging and mining are prohibited in mountain zones and mountain-oasis ecotones. Scholars are encouraged to focus on desert-ecosystem services in the future.
Features and Recursive Structure in Phonology
Authors: Nasukawa Kuniya
Published: June 2015

Based on the cross-linguistic tendency that weak vowels are realized with a central quality such as ə, ɨ, or ɯ, this paper attempts to account for this choice by proposing that the nucleus itself is one of the three monovalent vowel elements |A|, |I| and |U| which function as the building blocks of melodic structure. I claim that individual languages make a parametric choice to determine which of the three elements functions as the head of a nuclear expression. In addition, I show that elements can be freely concatenated to create melodic compounds. The resulting phonetic value of an element compound is determined by the specific elements it contains and by the head-dependency relations between those elements. This concatenation-based recursive mechanism of melodic structure can also be extended to levels above the segment, thus ultimately eliminating the need for syllabic constituents. This approach reinterprets the notion of minimalism in phonology by opposing the string-based flat structure.
Hybrid Opacity in Berbice Dutch Creole
Authors: Dow Michael
Published: June 2015

Recent work on opacity calls attention to the need for a refined taxonomy (e.g. Baković 2007, 2011), though the mutual exclusivity of the two major kinds of opaque interactions, underapplication and overapplication, remains unquestioned. No interaction has, until now, been reported to display both effects for a single input to output mapping. I present one case from Berbice Dutch Creole (hereafter Berbice) where, depending on the analysis, nasal place assimilation simultaneously underapplies and overapplies, due to an interaction with consonant deletion. In this paper, I present several possible analyses of the Berbice data in rule-based serialism and Optimality Theory with Candidate Chains (McCarthy 2007) and compare the claims these frameworks make on the interaction’s classification. I also discuss the theoretical implications of hybrid opacity and how it may fit within the larger taxonomy of opacity. Finally, I lay the foundation for further work on the phenomenon by presenting a generalized template and a possible experimental design.
Serial Markedness Reduction
Authors: Jarosz Gaja
Published: June 2015

A growing body of research provides evidence supporting Harmonic Serialism (HS; McCarthy 2000, 2008a, 2010; Elfner to appear; Pruitt 2010), a serial version of Optimality Theory in which a single ranking of constraints is used iteratively to construct a derivation. This work has led to new insights into several outstanding problems in phonology and has highlighted problematic over-predictions of parallel OT, showing that HS predicts a more restricted range of interactions that better reflects typology. Although HS makes it possible to capture certain generalizations stated at intermediate levels of representation, it does not provide a general solution to phonological opacity. For this reason McCarthy developed a significant elaboration of HS, OT with Candidate Chains (OT-CC; McCarthy 2007), which evaluates complete HS-like derivations in parallel. This paper proposes a novel extension of HS, Serial Markedness Reduction (SMR), which combines advantages of HS and OT-CC. Like OT-CC, SMR includes a family of constraints that enables the modeling of both counterfeeding and counterbleeding opacity. However, SMR significantly streamlines the machinery necessary to model opacity as compared to OT-CC, relying on the gradual optimization inherent to HS to construct a single optimal derivation. The formal and empirical differences between OT-CC and SMR are discussed.

 
Oddities of Yidiɲ Stress Revisited
Authors: Kalivoda Nick , Lunden Anya
Published: June 2015

The Australian language Yidiɲ exhibits an unusual stress pattern: The penultimate syllable and every other syllable to the left bears stress, but penultimate lengthening occurs only in words containing an odd number of syllables. We propose that the lengthening is due to a rhythm-enhancing trade-off: Either the word begins with a stressed syllable or the penultimate syllable is lengthened. This approach is supported by the results of two perception studies. Specifically, it was found that test-strings without initial stress were significantly less likely to be correctly categorized as having rhythmic alternation than test-strings with initial stress. While it has been known that languages prefer words to begin with a stressed syllable these studies provide evidence that starting with a stressed syllable aids listeners in hearing a rhythmic pattern and, further, supports the proposed motivation for the distribution of penultimate lengthening in Yidiɲ.
An Emergent Approach to the Guttural Natural Class
Authors: Sylak-Glassman John Christopher
Published: June 2015

The post-velar consonants (uvulars, pharyngeals/epiglottals, glottals) have been argued to form an innate and universal phonological natural class (e.g. by McCarthy 1994). Under this hypothesis, languages should have an equal likelihood of showing evidence for the guttural natural class regardless of which post-velar consonants are present in each language. However, typological evidence from P-base (Mielke, 2008) shows that languages with pharyngeal consonants are significantly more likely to show such evidence than languages with just uvulars and glottals. This paper argues that the reason that languages with pharyngeals are more likely to show evidence of the guttural natural class is that pharyngeals are able to pull other consonants into phonologically patterning with them for both articulatory and acoustic reasons. The epilaryngeal constriction used in pharyngeal consonants facilitates articulatory links with uvulars and glottals. The acoustic effects of pharyngeals and uvulars on adjacent vowels are also similar, providing another means for these segments to pattern together phonologically. A preliminary analysis in Optimality Theory of the effects of post-velars on vowels is proposed in which markedness constraints refer to similarity scales that relate post-velar consonants to vowels. The guttural natural class, rather than being innate, emerges from phonological patterns with phonetic underpinnings.
Locality Requirements in Reduplication: SyllableProximity-BR
Authors: Guekguezian Peter Ara
Published: June 2015

Some languages show patterns of order-disrupting reduplication, in which the input order of elements is not faithfully preserved in the reduplicated form. Based on data from Saisiyat, an endangered Austronesian language of Taiwan, I propose that these patterns of order-disrupting reduplication are driven by syllable-based locality. In Saisiyat Progressive Reduplication, the second occurrence of the elements in Base-Reduplicant correspondence interrupts the expected linear sequence; for example, the unreduplicated form [koma:at] ‘write’ has the reduplicated form [kokma:at] ‘be writing’, in which the second [k] is order-disrupting. To account for such patterns, I propose a constraint SyllableProximity-BR, which demands that elements in Base-Reduplicant correspondence be dominated by the same syllable node. Order disruption results when SyllableProximity-BR dominates a constraint requiring order preservation. This account captures both the position and the minimal size of the Reduplicant in order-disrupting reduplication, and makes the strong empirical prediction that all order-disrupting reduplication is local. An alternative account of these phenomena that enforces position and size requirements by separate constraints predicts unattested patterns of order-disrupting reduplication with a variable source of copy and an arbitrarily long distance between correspondents.
Dissimilation by surface correspondence in Aghem velarized diphthongs
Authors: Faytak Matthew
Published: June 2015

Aghem exhibits a static co-occurrence restriction involving an intrusive velar segment present in two of the language's falling diphthongs. I provide a brief descriptive overview of these unusual phonetic structures and an Agreement by Correspondence (ABC) analysis of the phenomenon as dissimilation with the intent of avoiding suboptimal correspondence.
The Development of Polysemous ‘One’-phrase in Mandarin Chinese
Authors: Chen I-Hsuan
Published: June 2015

Mandarin ‘one’-phrase, [yi ‘one’+classifier+noun], has multiple interpretations, such as counting /measuring phrases, negative polarity items (NPIs), and expressions meaning ‘whole’. Each function of the ‘one’-phrase is treated as a construction that has different relationships among its three components. ‘One’ serves as a reference point on a scale, so the numeral sequence can mean maximality or minimality depending on contexts. The scalar implications are built into the whole construction instead of one lexeme through grammaticalization. This study aims to provide a unified account for the synchronic polysemous ‘one’-phrase by looking into its diachronic development.
Discourse structure and attitudinal valence of opinion words in sentiment extraction
Authors: Trnavac Radoslava , Taboada Maite
Published: June 2015

Taboada et al. (2008) propose a word-based method for extracting sentiment from text that relies on the most relevant parts of a text. The method predicts that opinion words found in the nuclei (more important parts) of a document are more significant for the overall sentiment, whereas opinion words found in the satellites (less important parts) only potentially interfere with the overall sentiment.  However, as pointed out by Taboada et al. (2008) and Narayanan et al. (2009), for certain discourse relations (for instance, Condition relations), the calculation of sentiment should involve both parts of the relation. Based on our analysis of the affective content expressed by automatically extracted discourse relations from the Simon Fraser University Corpus (Taboada 2008) and the Penn Discourse Treebank (Prasad et al. 2008), we propose to classify all the discourse relations into four categories: (1) relations that reverse polarity, (2) intensify polarity, (3) downtone polarity, or (4) produce no change in polarity.  We compare the performance of a sentiment analysis system (SO-CAL, Taboada et al. 2011) when opinion words are detected only in the nuclei with its performance when both parts of the relation are analyzed in combination with the opinion words. The results of the experiment show that extraction of both the nucleus and the satellite parts of texts does not improve the performance of a sentiment extraction system.
“You haven’t been to Queens”: The epistemics of identity and place
Authors: Sierra Sylvia Antonina , Botti Alexandra
Published: June 2015

This research examines the discursive processes through which a New York City transplant constructs his identity as a knowledgeable NYC resident. We focus on the relevance of epistemics in the relational identity processes of authentication and denaturalization (Bucholtz & Hall 2005), arguing that these may be central to the construction of an identity based around place. In our analysis, we show how the speaker uses authentication to legitimize his claims to specific place knowledge and thus his place identity, while also engaging in a process of denaturalization that downplays others’ rights to knowledge, constructing their place identities as false or inauthentic.

 
Chain shifts, strident vowels, and expanded vowel spaces
Authors: Faytak Matthew
Published: June 2015

Chain shifts among vowels proceed along tightly prescribed articulatory paths: peripheral vowels raise, and high vowels, butting up against the top of the vowel space, must instead diphthongize or centralize (Labov 2004). I argue that high vowels may also further increase their constriction degree, resulting in spirantized vowels with phonetic characteristics of voiced fricatives (Connell 2007). I account for the rare emergence of these vowels with basic principles of dispersion (Liljencrants and Lindblom 1972): tongue height sufficient to produce frication may be integrated into the articulatory vowel space as the end result of raising in push chains. 
A/an and the: allomorphy or phonology?
Authors: Pak Marjorie
Published: June 2015

English a/an presents a well-known paradox: it is restricted to a single morpheme, which suggests that it is a morphological phenomenon, yet it depends crucially on information about the following word, and thus cannot be characterized as a strictly word-internal process. Here I look at a/an alongside a strikingly similar but far less studied alternation: English definite article th/i/ vs. th/ə/. I argue that despite initial appearances, neither a/an nor thi/thə is determined by syllable well-formedness constraints. I show parallels between the two cases that can be explained under a phonological treatment featuring a vowel-reduction rule, which applies to both thi and the ‘strong’ a/an form /ej/.
Dialect as a Marker of Political Orientation
Authors: Knoblock Natalia
Published: June 2015

The abstract revisits the issue of dialect as marker of political identity. It recounts the outcome of an experiment designed to check if the population of a largely conservative area will assume that speakers of the same dialect are more conservative as well. The results showed that respondents indeed identified the speakers of their own dialect as sharing their political affiliation as well. 
What is Raining? English Weather "it" Revisited
Authors: Krejci Bonnie
Published: June 2015

Weather expressions like “it is raining” encode events in which it is difficult to identify distinct thematic participants. While the “it” of English weather expressions is often analyzed as an expletive subject that is not semantically selected by the verb, other authors argue that “it” is referential or semi-referential (Bolinger 1973, Chomsky 1981). Here, I provide new evidence that weather “it” is semantically contentful, differing from true expletives. Further, I argue that weather verbs like “rain” and “snow” form a class with verbs of substance emission like “gush” and “drip” (Levin 1993) based on their analogous semantic and syntactic behavior.
The Interpretation of Indifference Free Relatives
Authors: Nussbaum Miriam
Published: June 2015

The behavior of -ever free relatives is unlike that of universal quantifiers and of plain definites, and their analysis has therefore been controversial. This paper argues that the availability of de dicto-like readings for -ever FRs in non-local ACD constructions can be explained by an analysis like the one proposed by von Fintel (2000), whereby "indifference" FRs are definites with a counterfactual presupposition. Other scope interactions undergone by indifference FRs further separate them from universals, while their differences from plain plural definites can be captured by a good-fit condition like the one proposed by Brisson (1997) for all.
Existential Dependency: Holes, flaws and problems
Authors: Szekely Rachel
Published: June 2015

This paper proposes that a relation, EXISTENTIAL DEPENDENCY, defines a
class of nouns and accounts for the infelicity of its members as subjects of locative
copular sentences and for related definiteness restrictions. This relation is distinguished
from others, such as (in)alienable possession, on conceptual and empirical grounds.
How is contraction not possible here?
Authors: Pak Marjorie
Published: June 2015

While how-questions typically elicit information about manner or instrument, English how‑questions have an additional, largely unnoticed interpretation: they can be used (often rhetorically) to express surprise that the proposition under ‘how’ holds at all (How is Chili's still open?) While these ‘propositional how-questions’ freely allow negation, they do not allow neg-contraction (?*How isn't Chili's open yet?). I propose that Neg-to-C raising is blocked because it would enable Neg to (undesirably) scope over a covert VERUM operator in C that contributes to the 'surprise at the true-status of p' reading.
A unified treatment of the exceptions to the Agent/ECM Correlation
Authors: Ito Yuki
Published: June 2015

Based on the contrast between the believe-class and the wager-class verbs, Pesetsky (1992) makes a generalization that agentive verbs do not allow ECM (the Agent/ECM Correlation). However, he notes two classes of exceptions to the generalization. I argue that the two classes of exceptions can be uniformly treated as causatives and that the Agent/ECM Correlation can be seen as an instance of the broader l-syntax finding that “not all internal arguments are created equal”–with agentive activity verbs the root selects an internal argument, but not with change-of-state verbs (Basilico 1998, Hale and Keyser 2002, Alexiadou and Schäfer 2011, Cuervo 2014).

 
Biology, socialization, and identity: Accounting for the voices of female-to-male transsexuals
Authors: Zimman Lal
Published: June 2015

Although dissimilarities between men’s and women’s voices are often attributed to biological differences between the sexes, a great deal of research shows that many of the phonetic indices of speaker gender are socially learned. A number of questions remain, however, surrounding the exact process through which speakers acquire these features. In this paper I present findings from an ongoing study of the voices of English-speaking female-to-male transsexuals. Although the voices of male-to-female transsexuals have been studied fairly extensively, work on female-to-male speakers is virtually nil. However, these speakers’ voices present an ideal testing grounds for understanding the relationship between biology, socialization, and identity in the development of phonetic styles associated with women and men. My findings, which reveal that female-to-male transsexuals’ voices are in most ways comparable to other men’s, demonstrate that identity, along with biology and socialization, makes a crucial contribution in shaping the gendered characteristics of the voice.
Contrast Preservation in dialects of North Levantine Arabic
Authors: Ouwayda Sarah
Published: June 2015

This paper uses Contrast Preservation Theory to account for two opaque processes in two dialects of Levantine Arabic spoken in Tripoli: (1) a Push Shift effect in a dialect spoken in traditional neighborhoods and (2) a constraint paradox in the standard dialect.
Expressing numerical uncertainty
Authors: Zaroukian Erin
Published: June 2015

In Russian, numeral expressions can be made approximate through Approximative Inversion, whereby the noun and the numeral appear to exchange positions. Approximative Inversion has been analyzed as head movement, where a head containing the noun raises to the left of the numeral, but this leads to incorrect semantics. I propose that Approximative Inversion involves post-nominal generation of the numeral in a reduced relative structure, where it is associated with a feature marking speaker uncertainty. This feature triggers a round-number reading of the numeral, resulting in what appears to be number approximation due to speaker uncertainty.
Long Distance Agreement and Restructuring
Authors: Davison Alice Louise
Published: June 2015

Agreement in Hindi/Urdu may optionally hold between the matrix verb and the object of a matrix infinitive. Bhatt 2005 reduces this optionality to Restructuring, the option of lacking a PRO subject in the infinitive. PRO in Hindi is subject to a lexical case condition, which should be obviated if PRO were missing in the restructured case with LDA. But sentences are ungrammatical both with and without LDA. I argue that PRO is always present, in both the LDA and default agreement cases. Restructuring is not an option for LDA matrix verbs in this language.
Positional and cooccurrence restrictions on ejectives
Authors: Jany Carmen
Published: June 2015

Different studies have looked at phonotactic restrictions on ejectives from a variety of perspectives focusing on syllable structure or on general patterns of laryngeal features, such as cooccurrence limitations or positionally motivated neutralization of contrast (Blevins 2004, Coulston 2001, MacEachern 1997, Maddieson 2004, Rimrott 2003, Steriade 1999). This paper examining ejectives in 27 languages brings together these diverse approaches suggesting that all phonotactic restrictions are based on articulatory and auditory features often working together. Given that languages vary with respect to articulatory features of their phonemes and with regard to perceptual similarity, different restriction patterns are found cross-linguistically.
Syntax-Pragmatics interface in converbal constructions
Authors: Petrova Nyurguyana
Published: June 2015

Converbs are non-finite verb forms which indicate adverbial subordination (Haspelmath 1995). Converbal clauses can occur in chaining constructions, where they are stacked one after the other to advance the narration (Nedjalkov 1995). Bickel (2006) has claimed that there are cross-linguistic occurrences of such constructions, where the scope of an interrogative marker is indeterminate. The chaining constructions in Sakha (Yakut), a Turkic language, show variation in illocutionary scope, which is determined by focus assignment. This study provides a mechanism for deriving Sakha converbs and their interaction in terms of mood and information-structure in chaining constructions.
Tifinagh and consonantal writing systems
Authors: Buckley Eugene
Published: June 2015

Gelb (1963) famously claimed that the seemingly consonantal West Semitic script is a syllabary with CV signs in which the vowel is unspecified (or zero). Others have argued for a more straightforward approach that assumes consonants directly, but both approaches are empirically adequate for Semitic. The Tifinagh script for Tuareg shows more definitively that individual signs in a script can truly denote just consonants, since an initial vowel is unwritten even when that vowel constitutes the entire syllable. The script is further sensitive to the contextual realization of a high vocoid as a vowel or glide.
Vowel Fission in Jaqaru
Authors: Walker Rachel
Published: June 2015

“Epenthetic” vowels in loanwords in Jaqaru harmonize with a suffix ([axusí-ni] ‘garlic (poss.)’ < ajos) and otherwise a root vowel ([áxusu]). In four-syllable words, the second vowel optionally deletes. Here, the “epenthetic” vowel matches the underlying vowel of the root-final syllable: [axsú-ni]. Contracted forms show apparent counterbleeding: harmony in the root precedes deletion. Even so, blocking of harmony with the suffix is not predicted. This paper analyzes “epenthesis” as root-vowel fission driven by a constraint requiring vowel-final roots. Under contraction, suffix-triggered harmony is blocked by existential identity (Struijke 2000). This both obviates counterbleeding and improves on its predictions.
What is Inherent Variability in Syntax?
Authors: Fasold Ralph W.
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Acquisition of English verb transitivity by native speakers of Japanese
Authors: Nagano Tomonori
Published: June 2015

This on-going study is concerned with native Japanese speakers’ acquisition of English verb semantic classes, especially those participating in the English causative alternation. Twenty-two native English speakers and 34 native Japanese speakers were asked to judge the grammaticality of verbs from different semantic classes in transitive (e.g., “X disappeared/touched/moved Y”) and intransitive constructions (e.g., “X/Y disappeared/touched/moved”). Data suggest that L2 learners are sensitive to frequency effects when verbs are not prototypical members of a verb semantic class. I discuss possible interactions between frequency effects and L1/L2 verb semantic classes in second language acquisition.
Perception and representation of Mandarin fricatives
Authors: Lu Yu-an
Published: June 2015

This study investigates the psychological reality of the complementary distributed palatal fricatives [?, ??, ?] and dental fricatives [ts, ts?, s] in Mandarin Chinese. An initial experiment following up on research showing a priming effect between allophonic variants but not between contrastive sounds, was conducted to see the extent to which the dental fricative [s] primes a palatal fricative [?], or vice versa. The results from semantic priming and lexical decision tasks suggest possible representations of the palatal fricative [?] and the dental fricative [s].
Corpora of Non-Linguistic Symbol Systems
Authors: Wu Katherine , Solman Jennifer , Linehan Ruth , Sproat Richard
Published: June 2015

The popular press has promoted recent claims of statistical methods that can distinguish writing from non-linguistic symbols. One problem with such claims, though, is the dearth of non-linguistic symbol "texts" which could be compared with written language. This project fills that void by developing electronic corpora of known non-linguistic systems. To date we have developed corpora of several systems: heraldry; Totem poles; Mesopotamian deity symbols; Vinča symbols; Pictish symbols; mathematical equations; weather icons. Corpus sizes range from several hundred to several tens of thousands of symbols. All corpora are encoded in XML and will be released under an open-source license.
Emphatically stressed demonstratives
Authors: Beller Charley Evan
Published: June 2015

Unlike pronouns stressed demonstratives do not require disjoint reference, but only expressive NPs can be stressed (2). ( Jack kissed Mary ) (1) a. I hate that PIG. b. ? I hate that DOCTOR. (2) Every intern who works for a senator ends up disliking that CREEP. In (2) the demonstrative can corefer with the indefinite so long as the indefinite scopes over the quantified subject, i.e. all the interns work for the same senator. Emphatic stress predicates an attitude of the speaker on an individual provided by the DP which rules out the non-referential donkey interpretations.
On the Distant and Second Imperfect in Lorrain
Authors: Russo Stephanie
Published: June 2015

This study investigates the distribution of the distant imperfect and the second imperfect, an unusual occurrence unknown to other French and Romance dialects, which appears in Lorrain.
Perception evidence for the proportional increase theory of weight
Authors: Lunden Anya
Published: June 2015

Lunden 2006 gave evidence from a production study with Norwegian speakers that shows there is a proportional relationship between V, the canonical light rhyme, and heavy syllable rhymes. The average proportional increase of a heavy rhyme over a light V rhyme was notably consistent across all positions. Crucially, a final VC rhyme did not reach the same proportional increase in a duration that a non-final VC or VXC did, as final lengthening disproportionally affected V-final rhymes. This poster presents an MFC experiment with Norwegian speakers that finds evidence from the perceptual side for the proportional increase theory of weight.
Projective Content and the Tagalog Reportative
Authors: Kierstead Gregory Weiss
Published: June 2015

In this talk, it will be shown that the Tagalog clitic daw is a reportative evidential. Further, it will be shown that certain utterances with daw have implications that project, although this possibility of projection is context-dependent. Due to these properties, these implications of utterances with daw do not fit into standardly assumed categories of meaning, and thus this evidence has important consequences for the study of the taxonomy of meaning.
Semantics and visual cognition: the processing of Bulgarian and Polish majority quantifiers
Authors: Tomaszewicz Barbara Maria
Published: June 2015

I provide experimental evidence that quantifier semantics is transparently associated with a canonical verification strategy (Lidz et al. 2011). I tested the processing of two majority quantifiers in Bulgarian and Polish: Most1, the counterpart of English most, and Most2, meaning “the largest subset”. Three notable results have been obtained: (i) Most1 is verified by a Subtraction strategy, directly replicating the findings of Lidz et al. for Slavic; (ii) Most2 is verified by a Selection strategy in accordance with its lexical semantics; (iii) the canonical verification strategies are used even in cases where either strategy would yield the correct truth value.
Untangling syntactic and morphophonological effects on Brazilian Portuguese Wh-interrogatives
Authors: Oushiro Livia , Mendes Ronald Beline
Published: June 2015

From a corpus of 53 sociolinguistic interviews, this paper analyzes variation among four structures of Wh-interrogatives in Brazilian Portuguese (Onde você mora?, Onde que você mora?, Onde é que você mora?, Você mora onde? ‘Where do you live?’) and contrasts the results of multivariate analyses, focusing on two different envelopes of variation (Variable position of the wh-word and Variable que) and two factor groups (Wh-word and Syntactic function). We show that variable position of the wh-word is mostly conditioned by syntactic factors, whereas variable que is mostly conditioned by morphophonological factors.
Calculating Frequency of Occurrence of ASL handshapes
Authors: Henner Jonathan , Geer Leah C. , Lillo-Martin Diane
Published: June 2015

Here we discuss an investigation of handshape markedness based on frequency of occurrence in an ASL
database. Using a database of the most frequently used signs in a corpus of child language and other
early-acquired signs we examined the handshapes of approximately 1000 signs by using two annotation
systems, BTS and Stokoe annotation. Results indicate that the distribution of handshape use on the
dominant and non-dominant hands is consistent with the predictions set forth by previous researchers
in their examinations of handshape markedness. Our findings are also consistent with investigations
handshape frequency in other sign languages, suggesting some cross-linguistic comparability in handshape
markedness.
Covert contrast in child phonology is not necessarily extragrammatical
Authors: McAllister Byun Tara , Richtsmeier Peter , Maas Edwin
Published: June 2015

Covert contrast in child phonology is not necessarily extragrammatical
Paragoge as an indicator of language contact
Authors: Ng E-Ching
Published: June 2015

Paragoge as an indicator of language contact
Agreement and the Icelandic Passive: A Smuggling Account
Authors: Ussery Cherlon
Published: June 2015

Agreement and the Icelandic Passive: A Smuggling Account
Learnability of complex phonological interactions: an artificial language learning experiment
Authors: Brooks K. Michael , Pajak Bozena , Baković Eric
Published: June 2015

Learnability of complex phonological interactions: an artificial language learning experiment
Context, scale structure, and statistics in the interpretation of positive-form adjectives
Authors: Lassiter Daniel , Goodman Noah D.
Published: June 2015

Relative adjectives in the positive form exhibit vagueness and context-sensitivity. We suggest that these phenomena can be explained by the interaction of a free threshold variable in the meaning of the positive form with a probabilistic model of pragmatic inference. We describe a formal model of utterance interpretation as coordination, which jointly infers the value of the threshold variable and the intended meaning of the sentence. We report simulations exploring the effect of background statistical knowledge on adjective interpretation in this model. Motivated by these simulation results, we suggest that this approach can account for the correlation between scale structure and the relative/absolute distinction while also allowing for exceptions noted in previous work. Finally, we argue for a probabilistic explanation of why the sorites paradox is compelling with relative adjectives even though the second premise is false on a universal interpretation, and show that this account predicts Kennedy’s (2007) observation that the sorites paradox is more compelling with relative than with absolute adjectives.
Sluicing as anaphora to issues
Authors: AnderBois Scott
Published: June 2015

Since Merchant 2001, it has been widely agreed that the licensing condition on Sluicing is at least partly semantic in nature. This paper argues that the relevant semantic condition is one of symmetric entailment over a semantics which includes not only truth-conditional information, but also issues in the sense of Groenendijk & Roelofsen 2009. One kind of evidence for the proposal comes from expressions like doubly-negated inde?nites and implicit passive agents which do not license Sluicing despite truth-conditional equivalence to overt inde?nites. In addition to these facts, the paper examines novel data which show that Sluicing is not licensed by even overt inde?nites inside of appositive relative clauses, arguing that these facts (and related facts regarding VP-Ellipsis) follow from the account together with an independently motivated semantics for appositives.
Triggering verbal presuppositions
Authors: Abrusan Marta
Published: June 2015

This paper offers a predictive mechanism to derive the presuppositions of verbs. The starting point is the intuition, dating back at least to Stalnaker (1974), that the information conveyed by a sentence that is in some sense independent from its main point is presupposed. The contribution of this paper is to spell out a mechanism for deciding what will become the main point of the sentence and how to calculate independence. It is proposed that this can be calculated by making reference to event times. As a very rough approximation, the main point of an utterance is what (in a sense to be defined) has to be about the event time of the matrix predicate and the information that the sentence conveys but is not (or does not have to be) about the event time of the matrix predicate is presupposed. The notion of aboutness used to calculate independence is based on Demolombe and Farinas del Cerro (2000).
The Content of Pronouns: Evidence from Focus
Authors: Sauerland Uli
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Chinese NPs: Quantification & Distributivity
Authors: Yang Rong
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
The Syntax and Semantics of Nominals
Authors: Bowers John
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Topic, Focus and Quantification
Authors: Partee Barbara
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
A Compositional Semantics for Multiple Focus Constructions
Authors: Krifka Manfred
Published: June 2015

No abstract.
Disentangling own: evidence from association with focus
Authors: Spathas Giorgos
Published: June 2015

The possessive marker own exhibits a complicated behavior that gives rise to a wide range of subtle meaning differences. Accordingly, the theoretical literature has proposed a number of different characterizations of this element. This paper uses (primarily) data from association with focus to disentangle the various effects that own gives rise to and argue that there are at least two distinct homophonous items; ownR, a reflexivizer that operates on a syntactically derived predicate, and ownPoss, a marker of strong/ inalienable possession. We provide a compositional analysis of examples with ownR that derives its distribution without the need to any item-specific principle of Binding Theory; obligatory reflexivization follows from the lexical semantics of ownR, and locality restrictions follow from independent restrictions on the formation of derived predicates in the syntax. We, thus, provide evidence for (i) the dissociation of reflexivization and locality, and (ii) the formation of complex predicates in the syntax.
Evidence for non-existential readings of locative indefinites
Authors: Grimm Robert Maximilian , Lee Choonkyu , Poortman Eva B , Winter Yoad
Published: June 2015

We report on experimental results which show that sentences involving locative indefinites can give rise to non-existential readings. “We are far from a gas station,” for example, was judged as false by about two thirds of our subjects in situations where “we” are close to the nearest gas station, yet there also is a more distant gas station such that we are far from it. We examine two accounts of
this kind of reading. Under one possible explanation, far from decomposes into its negated antonym. Under an alternative account, indefinites denote properties which are associated with eigenspaces – the spatial regions inhabited by the entities in the extension of the property. We present new evidence, with experimental support, for the latter account: sentences containing indefinites with projective locatives have a salient false interpretation also in situations where the existential reading is true – and decomposition into negated antonyms fails to explain this. Our results imply
that indefinites uniformly denote properties and only indirectly, through derivational ambiguity, existential quantifiers.