bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
βγ-CAT, a non-lens betagamma-crystallin and trefoil factor complex, induces calcium-dependent platelet apoptosis
Authors: Gao Qian , Xiang Yang , Chen Zhongming , Zeng Lin , Ma Xutong , Zhang Yun
Published: March 2011

In recent years, it has been reported that apoptosis may occur in platelets and play a role in the clearance of effete platelets. βγ-CAT, a newly identified non-lens βγ-crystallin and trefoil factor complex from frog Bombina maxima skin secretions, caused several in vivo toxic effects on mammals. Through determined haematological parameters of rabbits, it has been found that βγ-CAT significantly reduced the number of platelets in a time-dependent manner. Here, in order to explore the effect of βγ-CAT on platelets, washed platelets were incubated with various concentrations of βγ-CAT for 30 minutes. We found that βγ-CAT induced several apoptosis events in human platelets, including caspase-3 activation, phosphatidylserine (PS) exposure, depolarisation of mitochondrial inner transmembrane potential (ΔΨm), cytochrome c re-lease and strong expression of pro-apoptotic Bax and Bak proteins. However, βγ-CAT did not significantly induce platelet activation as detected by P-selectin surface expression, GPIIb/IIIa activation and platelet aggregation. In addition, we observed that βγ-CAT-induced PS exposure and ΔΨm depolarisation in platelets are Ca2+-dependent. Taken together, βγ-CAT can induce Ca2+-dependent platelet apoptosis but does not cause platelet activation.
Cardiovascular and Renal Outcomes With Telmisartan, Ramipril, or Both in People at High Renal Risk
Authors: Tobe Sheldon W. , Clase Catherine M. , Gao Peggy , McQueen Matthew , Grosshennig Anja , Wang Xingyu , Teo Koon K. , Yusuf Salim , Mann Johannes F.E.
Published: March 2011

Background—

In the Ongoing Telmisartan Alone and in Combination With Ramipril Global End Point Trial (ONTARGET), dual therapy did not reduce cardiovascular or renal outcomes compared with either angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers alone. Previous controlled trials with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers have demonstrated greater cardiovascular and renal benefit in people with renal risk. We hypothesized that dual therapy would be more effective than monotherapy in patients with low glomerular filtration rate and elevated albuminuria.

Methods and Results—

Post hoc analysis was performed of renal subgroups of dual therapy versus monotherapy for the ONTARGET study and angiotensin receptor blocker versus placebo for the Telmisartan Randomized Assessment Study in ACE Intolerant Subjects With Cardiovascular Disease (TRANSCEND). The studies featured hazard ratios by subgroups and Cox regression models with factors for treatment, subgroup, and interactions. The main cardiovascular outcome was the composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure, and the main renal outcome was the composite of chronic dialysis or doubling of creatinine. In ONTARGET, there was no cardiovascular or renal benefit from dual over monotherapy in any subgroup, even with low glomerular filtration rate and/or elevated albuminuria. In TRANSCEND, in the comparison of angiotensin receptor blocker with placebo, there was a significant interaction for the main renal outcome (
P
=0.01) in the direction of harm for patients with normoalbuminuria (0.37 versus 0.16 events per 100 patient-years; hazard ratio, 2.35; confidence interval, 1.33 to 4.15) but a trend to benefit with microalbuminuria (0.52 versus 0.89 events per 100 patient-years; hazard ratio, 0.60; confidence interval, 0.25 to 1.46) and macroalbuminuria (1.57 versus 2.60 events per 100 patient-years; hazard ratio, 0.71; confidence interval, 0.21 to 2.44).

Conclusions—

This post hoc analysis does not support dual therapy over monotherapy in high–vascular risk patients with low glomerular filtration rate or albuminuria. This observation is a post hoc comparison and should be interpreted appropriately.

Clinical Trial Registration—

URL:
http://clinicaltrials.gov
Identifier: NCT00153101.
Prevalence of C-Reactive Protein Elevation and Time Course of Normalization in Acute Pericarditis
Authors: Imazio Massimo , Brucato Antonio , Maestroni Silvia , Cumetti Davide , Dominelli Antonio , Natale Giuseppe , Trinchero Rita
Published: March 2011

Background—

The role of inflammatory markers is not well defined for either diagnosis or treatment of pericarditis. The aim of this study is to prospectively evaluate the frequency of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) elevation in patients with acute pericarditis, its time course of normalization, and the possible importance for diagnosis, therapy, and prognosis.

Methods and Results—

Two hundred consecutive patients with viral or idiopathic acute pericarditis (mean age, 53±15.5 years; 103 men) were studied from August 2005 to August 2007 in 2 Italian referral centers. Hs-CRP was determined at presentation and then every week until normalization. Hs-CRP elevation was recorded in 156 of 200 cases (78%) at presentation. Recognized causes of a negative hs-CRP at presentation were early assessment in 15 of 44 cases (34%) and previous anti-inflammatory therapies in 22 of 44 cases (50%). Hs-CRP normalization was achieved with the following time course: 120 of 200 (60%) at week 1, 170 of 200 (85%) at week 2, 190 of 200 (95%) at week 3, and all cases (100%) at week 4. In multivariable analysis, incomplete response to empirical anti-inflammatory therapy at week 1 (hazard ratio, 2.98; 95% confidence interval, 1.80 to 4.94;
P
<0.001), corticosteroid therapy (hazard ratio, 2.80; 95% confidence interval, 1.59 to 4.95;
P
<0.001), and the presence of elevated hs-CRP at week 1 (hazard ratio, 2.36; 95% confidence interval, 1.32 to 4.21;
P
=0.004) were independent risk factors for recurrence.

Conclusions—

Hs-CRP is elevated at the initial presentation in ≈3 of 4 cases of acute pericarditis, identifies patients at higher risk of recurrence, and could be used to monitor disease activity and select appropriate therapy length.
Chronic Lowering of Blood Pressure by Carotid Baroreflex Activation
Authors: Lohmeier Thomas E. , Iliescu Radu
Published: March 2011

Recent technical advances have renewed interest in device-based therapy for the treatment of drug-resistant hypertension. Findings from recent clinical trials regarding the efficacy of electric stimulation of the carotid sinus for the treatment of resistant hypertension are reviewed here. The main goal of this article, however, is to summarize the preclinical studies that have provided insight into the mechanisms that account for the chronic blood pressure–lowering effects of carotid baroreflex activation. Some of the mechanisms identified were predictable and confirmed by experimentation. Others have been surprising and controversial, and resolution will require further investigation. Although feasibility studies have been promising, firm conclusions regarding the value of this device-based therapy for the treatment of resistant hypertension awaits the results of current multicenter trials.
Depot-Medroxyprogesterone Acetate and Endothelial Function Before and After Acute Oral, Vaginal, and Transdermal Estradiol Treatment
Authors: Torgrimson Britta N. , Meendering Jessica R. , Kaplan Paul F. , Minson Christopher T.
Published: March 2011

Young women using depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) contraception have low circulating estrogen and elevated synthetic progestin. Low estrogen and certain progestins have been shown to impact endothelial function even in young healthy women. The purpose of this study was to investigate how DMPA affects endothelial function and serum biomarkers of cardiovascular risk before and after acute oral, vaginal, and transdermal estradiol treatments. Seven young women participated on 3 study days during a normal 12-week DMPA cycle, during weeks 3, 6, and 9. An additional 8 young women participated on 6 separate days during a 12-week DMPA cycle, 3 times on DMPA only and 3 times when using DMPA plus acute estradiol treatments. Wall tracking of high-resolution ultrasound images of the brachial artery were used during endothelium-dependent flow-mediated dilation and nitroglycerin administration to test endothelial function. Serum samples were analyzed for cardiovascular indexes at each study visit. All of the estradiol treatments increased endothelium-dependent flow-mediated dilation compared with DMPA only (
P
<0.001). Endothelium-dependent flow-mediated dilation was not different among DMPA-only treatment days. Endothelium-independent vasodilation and cholesterol levels were unchanged across DMPA-only and DMPA plus estradiol cycles. These data suggest that acute estradiol treatments improve endothelium-dependent flow-mediated dilation in young hypoestrogenic women using DMPA.
A Disintegrin and Metalloprotease 17 Mediates Neointimal Hyperplasia in Vasculature
Authors: Takaguri Akira , Kimura Keita , Hinoki Akinari , Bourne Allison M. , Autieri Michael V. , Eguchi Satoru
Published: March 2011

The requirement of a metalloprotease, a disintegrin and metalloprotease 17 (ADAM17) for the growth of cultured vascular smooth muscle cells has been demonstrated in vitro. However, whether this metalloprotease is responsible for vascular remodeling in vivo remains unanswered. Rat carotid arteries were analyzed 2 weeks after a balloon angioplasty. The neointimal cells were strongly positive for ADAM17 immunostaining. Marked inhibition of intimal hyperplasia was observed in a dominant-negative ADAM17 adenovirus-treated carotid artery. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen-positive cells and phospho-epidermal growth factor receptor-positive cells in the neointima were reduced by dominant-negative ADAM17 as well. In contrast, the neointima formation, proliferating cell nuclear antigen-positive cells, and phospho-epidermal growth factor receptor-positive cells were markedly enhanced by wild-type ADAM17 adenovirus. In conclusion, ADAM17 activation is involved in epidermal growth factor receptor activation and subsequent neointimal hyperplasia after vascular injury. ADAM17 could be a novel therapeutic target for pathophysiological vascular remodeling.
Hypertension in Response to Placental Ischemia During Pregnancy
Authors: LaMarca Babbette , Wallace Kedra , Herse Florian , Wallukat Gerd , Martin James N. , Weimer Abram , Dechend Ralf
Published: March 2011

Preeclampsia is associated with innate inflammatory response resulting in elevated tumor necrosis factor-α, agonistic autoantibodies to the angiotensin II type I receptor, and activation of endothelin 1 (ET-1). This study was designed to determine the role of B-cell depletion, resulting in agonistic autoantibodies to the angiotensin II type I receptor suppression to mediate hypertension via activation of ET-1 in the placental ischemic reduced uterine perfusion pressure (RUPP) rat model of preeclampsia. To achieve this goal we examined the effect of RUPP on mean arterial pressure and ET-1 in the presence and absence of chronically infused rituximab (R; 250 mg/kg), a B-lymphocyte–suppressive agent used clinically to treat autoimmune diseases. Mean arterial pressure was 103±1 mm Hg in normal pregnant (NP) rats; 103±3 mm Hg in NP+R versus 133±2 mm Hg in RUPP rats, and 118±2 mm Hg in RUPP+R rats (
P
<0.001 vs RUPP controls). B lymphocytes decreased from 6.0±0.5% gated cells in RUPP to 3.7±0.8% gated cells in RUPP+R rats. Importantly, agonistic autoantibodies to the angiotensin II type I receptor decreased from 18±1 bpm in RUPP rats to 10±1 bpm in RUPP+R rats. ET-1 decreased 1.5-fold in kidneys and 4-fold in the placenta (
P
<0.01) of RUPP+R versus RUPP rats. Media ET-1 excretion from endothelial cells exposed to serum from NP, RUPP, NP+R, or RUPP+R rats was determined. ET-1 from endothelial cells treated with NP serum was 53+13 pg/mg and increased to 75+10 pg/mg with RUPP serum. In contrast, ET-1 secretion decreased in response to B-cell–depleted RUPP serum to 50±8 pg/mg and was unchanged in response to NP+R sera (46±12 pg/mg). These data demonstrate the important roles that B-lymphocyte activation and agonistic autoantibodies to the angiotensin II type I receptors play in the pathophysiology of hypertension in response to placental ischemia.
More Choice, Less Crime
Authors: Dills Angela K. , Hernández-Julián Rey
Published: March 2011

Previous research debates whether public school choice improves students' academic outcomes, but there is little examination of its effects on their nonacademic outcomes. We use data from a nationally representative sample of high school students, a previously developed Tiebout choice measure, and metropolitan-level data on teenage arrest rates to examine how public school choice affects students' propensity to be arrested or to join a gang. Adolescents in metropolitan areas with more public school choice are less likely to be associated with criminal activity, suggesting that the benefits of public school choice extend outside the classroom.
Why Languages and Contacts?
Authors: Zima Petr
Published: March 2011

Contacts of human beings using the available codes in definable contact communication situations/models is analytically distinguished from interference of language systems; the former being the object of the anthropology of communication, the latter being in the focus of linguistics. An attempt at a typology is presented for both complexes, in this paper.Contacts of speakers are classified according to their intensity/quantity, their quality, and their stratification. Interference types of language systems are classified in terms of their intensity/quantity, and their quality. These general typologies are illustrated by data available from different contact and interference areas and/or language structures current in Europe or Sub-Saharan Africa.
Population Movements and Contacts in Language Evolution
Authors: Mufwene Salikoko
Published: March 2011

I argue for uniformitarianism (Mufwene 2001) in accounts of language evolution. Below, after dismissing a few myths about the development of creoles, I show how what we have learned to date about this case of language speciation prompts genetic linguists to reopen the books about language diversification in general and as a concomitant of language death in many cases. I adduce various examples from distant and recent histories to illustrate how population movements and contacts have been a critical ecological factor even in the cases of so-called "internally-motivated" change. The distinction between "internally" and "externally-motivated" language change boils down to a mere sociological contrast once contact is situated at the inter-idiolectal level, where interactions and negotiations between linguistic systems take place, regardless of whether or not xenolectal features participate in the feature pool. Ultimately, the same mechanisms of competition and selection that apply to linguistic features also apply to languages and dialects. Driven by the ecology of language use, the mechanisms roll the dice not only on how a particular language evolves under specific ecological conditions but also on the vitality of languages.
Calquing and Metatypy
Authors: Ross Malcolm
Published: March 2011

Metatypy, meaning 'change in type' is a diachronic process in which the syntactic system of one of a bilingual community's languages is restructured so that it more closely resembles the syntax of its speakers' other language. It is thus a language contact phenomenon. In this paper I deconstruct my earlier account of metatypy and show that metatypy is preceded chronologically by lexical and grammatical calquing but is separate from these processes. Thus there are languages which have undergone widespread grammatical calquing but have stopped short of metatypy. The article also examines alternative terms for metatypy and indicates why I believe that the term 'metatypy' is preferable to them and useful for the subdiscipline of contact linguistics. Associated with this is a proposal that contact linguists adopt a strong hypothesis to the effect that bilingual speakers do not copy single constructions from one of their languages to the other on a piecemeal basis but that they always restructure larger systems. This hypothesis is put forward as a basis for research, not as a statement of belief.
Grammar, Contact and Time
Authors: Mithun Marianne
Published: March 2011

A continuing issue in work on language contact has been determining the relative borrowability of various structural features. It is easy to imagine, for example, how a tendency to use particular word order patterns in one language might be replicated by bilinguals in another, but difficult to understand how abstract morphological structures could be transferred. When we look at linguistic areas, however, we often find grammatical features shared by genetically unrelated languages that seem unborrowable. Here we consider the importance of adding the dimension of time to investigations into the potential effects of contact. As a point of departure we examine a relatively straightforward example from western North America, a striking parallelism in verbal structure among large numbers of languages indigenous to California. The example illustrates the fact that parallel grammatical structures in neighboring languages need not have been borrowed in their current form. They might instead be the result of an earlier transfer of patterns of expression that set the stage for subsequent parallel developments.
A mechanism of lexical borrowing
Authors: Sullivan Celeste
Published: March 2011

This paper offers a model to explain the general observation that lexical items are more often borrowed from a higher status language into a lower status one, than visa versa. Material from Lahore, Pakistan, shows that in casual speech among plurilinguals codeswitching is the norm. In formal contexts, in which there is attention to proper language, educated speakers filter out features which are not part of the standard language. Constraints on language and education in the hierarchical social structure withhold from most speakers of the lower status languages the knowledge necessary to evaluate their own speech in this way, thus allowing features of other languages to become established in their language.
Old Helsinki Slang and language mixing
Authors: Jarva Vesa
Published: March 2011

The study concerns itself with Old Helsinki Slang (OHS), a peculiar speech variety (spoken approximately between 1890 and 1950), mixing Finnish morpho-syntax and Swedish vocabulary. It is claimed that it resembles intertwined mixed languages. The study focuses on the lexical, phonological, morphological and syntactical features which are most likely contact-based. Besides the vocabulary, the impact of Swedish is clearly seen in phonology, while in morpho-syntax differences from Finnish are minor. In the conclusion, OHS is compared with Media Lengua and Ma'á. Although OHS was never an independent or an established system, it has a particular value as an example of language mixing in an exceptionally well-documented urban environment, even though the process was interrupted, and OHS gradually merged with Finnish.
Subversion of Language Structure in Heterogeneous Speech Communities: the Work of Discourse and the Part of Contact
Authors: Ploog Katja
Published: March 2011

Change is an ongoing process constitutive of human language to which will be refered by the term of dynamics. It will be worked out how mere interaction conditions the language dynamics and how the disposable structural resources will be coordinated in microsystems. Since from this point of view grammar exists as a process, it will be of interest to work out by what type of mechanisms a bilingual speaker elaborates his/her discourse. It will be discussed what can be called a (more) 'useful' construction and through what type of mechanisms the constructions get coordinated. We will argue that all discursive mechanisms are bound to satisfy the pragmatic demands of an actual speech production and that the most useful items are those which best satisfy these pragmatic demands.One of the most characteristic phenomena of the linguistic dynamics in Ivory Coast is the microsystem of LA: In a highly heterogeneous context of social interaction, LA is used in (the locally dominant) discursive traditions of French and Mande languages, undergoing a grammaticalization process separately in each of them and used - consequently - in various constructions. The wide range of its referential values, the very importance of the negotiation of discourse referents between speaker and hearer and its simple phonological form seem to predestine LA to get reappropriated and to become a 'favorite' form in the emergent speech community.
Processes of Creole Formation and Related Contact-Induced Language Change
Authors: Winford Donald
Published: March 2011

In this paper, I explore the relationship between creole formation and other outcomes of contact induced change and argue that in many respects the comparisons that earlier scholars made between the two have a sound basis in terms of the processes of change that produced such outcomes. I focus my attention only on those aspects of creole formation that result from the kind of cross-linguistic influence that has been referred to variously as 'substratum influence.' I argue that such influence is part of a more general type of contact-induced change that is brought about by imposition, a transfer type that manifests itself in a wide variety of contact situations not traditionally treated as involving the creation of creoles. I illustrate the workings of imposition in a variety of contact situations, including those that involve second language acquisition (including creole formation), and those that involve language attrition. I discuss two linguistic models that have been proposed for the description and analysis of such phenomena in creole formation, namely, Lefebvre's (1998) Relexification model, and Myers-Scotton's (2002) Abstract Level Structure model. I argue that these models are compatible with the view of imposition proposed here, and shed some light on the mechanisms underlying this transfer type, and how they produce the kinds of contact phenomena found in creole formation, as well as in cases of language attrition. I further argue that these mechanisms are essentially psycholinguistic in nature, and can best be understood in the context of psycholinguistic models of bilingual speech production. Finally, I suggest how insights from such models can clarify our understanding of how imposition produces the kinds of convergence phenomena we find in creoles and related outcomes of contact-induced change.
A History of Metatypy in the Bel Languages
Authors: Ross Malcolm
Published: March 2011

In earlier work Takia, an Oceanic Austronesian language, has been compared with its Papuan neighbour Waskia to show that much of the grammar of Takia can be explained as the outcome of metatypy on the model of Waskia or a language typologically like it. Takia belongs to the Western subgroup of the small Bel family, the members of which have all undergone metatypy to some degree. In this paper data from the Bel languages are used to reconstruct the history of certain Takia grammatical features, especially clause chaining and postverbal enclitics, in order to confirm or refute earlier inferences about their history. These inferences are largely confirmed, and the origins of clause chaining and postverbal enclitics are situated as a sequence of changes within a history of the Bel languages. The investigation shows that, as expected, metatypy is a gradual process. It also confirms that the innovation of clause-chaining was a normal piece of grammaticisation, but one that was triggered by speakers' bilingualism in a clause-chaining language or languages.The investigation has yielded an unexpected spin-off by showing that metatypy was an ongoing process during the development of the Bel languages. Reconstructing the genesis of Western Bel clause-chaining and enclitic sequences forces us to reconstruct ongoing contact, whilst Matugar, an Eastern Bel language, reflects metatypy probably on the model of its Western Bel relatives.
Contact-Induced Change and the Openness of 'Closed' Morphological Systems: Some Cases from Native America
Authors: Grant Anthony
Published: March 2011

This paper examines the effects of contact-induced language change on the nominal and verbal inflectional morphology of several Native American languages, most of which have also replaced large amounts of their basic vocabulary with loans from other language. It shows that although there are few if any limitations on the kinds of concepts which may be expressed by borrowed items, borrowing as a source of morphological renewal is an infrequently-employed process in these languages, and even those languages which have borrowed heavily have not always borrowed the same types of morphemes from other languages. Information derived from diachronic inspection of inflectional morphology remains the most reliable means of classifying languages genealogically with accuracy.
Transmission Biases in Linguistic Epidemiology
Authors: Enfield Nicholas
Published: March 2011

There is growing interest in approaching research on language contact and change through an epidemiological, population-based model which takes 'linguistic items' or equivalent as a key unit of analysis. This paper explores a number of elements of such a model, with particular attention to a set of biases which may act as conduits or filters for the transmission of linguistic items in populations. These include a number of such biases introduced in recent models of cultural transmission: a threshold bias, a sociometric bias, a model bias, a conformity bias, and a frequency bias. A further bias is of particular relevance to language, but is argued to be equally important for models of cultural transmission in general. This is a context bias, which takes into account the kind of structural context which a given item or variant presupposes for its function. The presence or absence of a relevant structural context will determine the likelihood that the item will be transmitted, and if so to what degree of faithfulness. These biases may help toward characterising an anatomy of cultural epidemiology which makes explicit the relation between individual cognition, social processes, and population-level structure.
Language Contact: Why Outsider System Morphemes Resist Transfer
Authors: Myers-Scotton Carol
Published: March 2011

The premise of this paper is that morpheme types differ in related ways in their participation in various types of language contact. The paper focuses on codeswitching, suggesting that the morpheme type that comes from only one of the participating languages in codeswitching also resists transfer or replication across languages in other contact phenomena. This morpheme is called the "outsider" system morpheme under the 4-M model. The paper suggests that its role in structuring clauses across languages in general, along with hypotheses about how different morpheme types become available in language production, offer explanations regarding what can happen in language contact.
Language-Internal versus Contact-Induced Change: The Split Coding of Person and Number: A Stefan Elders Question
Authors: Shay Erin , Frajzyngier Zygmunt
Published: March 2011

The aim of this study is to contribute to the methodology for determining whether a given characteristic of a language is a product of language contact or of language-internal grammaticalization. We have taken as a test problem a formal structure that is relatively rare across languages but that occurs in a few geographically proximate languages belonging to different families. The presence of a typologically rare phenomenon in neighboring but unrelated languages raises the question of whether the structure may be a product of cross-linguistic contact.The structures that we examine involve the split coding of person and number of the subject, in which a pronoun preceding the verb codes person only. Plurality of the subject is coded by a suffix to the verb, usually the same suffix for all persons. In some languages the split coding of person and number operates for all persons, while in others the split coding is limited to some persons only. This structure has been observed in several languages spoken in a small area of Northern Cameroon. Three of these languages, Gidar, Giziga, and Mofu-Gudur, belong to the Central branch of the Chadic family, while two other languages, Mundang and Tupuri, belong to the Adamawa branch of the Niger-Congo family. Outside of this geographical area, this structure has been observed in Egyptian, some Cushitic languages, and in some languages of North America.Since every linguistic phenomenon must have been grammaticalized in some language at some point, we must consider first whether there are language-internal prerequisites for such grammaticalization. For each language of the study, we show that the split coding of person and number may represent a product of language-internal development. The presence of the phenomenon in a language that does not have language-internal prerequisites can then be safely considered to be a product of language contact.
Social and Linguistic Factors as Predictors of Contact-Induced Change
Authors: Thomason Sarah
Published: March 2011

Two claims made by Thomason & Kaufman (1988) have elicited particularly strong reactions from specialists in language contact: first, that there are no absolute linguistic constraints on the kinds or numbers of features that can be transferred from one language to another; and second, that when social factors and linguistic factors might be expected to push in opposite directions in a language contact situation, the social factors will be the primary determinants of the linguistic outcome. Both claims have frequently been challenged in recent years, for instance by Gillian Sankoff, Ruth King, and Carol Myers-Scotton. To some extent the challenges are based on a misunderstanding of our arguments; most seriously, some critics argue that we dismiss linguistic predictors as entirely irrelevant to an analysis of contact-induced change. Since we discussed linguistic as well as social predictors of contactinduced change, it isn't true that, as King 2002 puts it, we claimed that 'linguistic factors… play no role' in determining the outcome of language contact (and Sankoff 2001 has a similar statement). In part, however, the objections to our position are based on genuine theoretical and/or empirical disagreements between Thomason & Kaufman and their critics. This paper explores these disagreements in an effort to arrive at a better understanding of the relative importance of social and linguistic predictors in language contact situations. My main conclusions are these: although critics have made impressive contributions toward specifying linguistic predictors, there is still no good reason to abandon the Thomason & Kaufman position (mainly because it was much less extreme than some readers have assumed); and much more work needs to be done to make even rough predictions about the relative impact of particular social and linguistic factors, and their interactions, in particular contact situations.
What to Do when You are Unhappy with Language Areas but You do not Want to Quit
Authors: Tosco Mauro
Published: March 2011

The article deals with the concept of "linguistic area" and its problems.Section 1. deals with the history of the concept, as originally formulated by Trubetzkoy in 1923, showing how logical problems were present since the very beginning.In Section 2. a few possible preconditions for a scientifically sound definition of "area" are proposed and discussed, and their application is exemplified in Section 3. with the case of the languages of Northern Eritrea.It is suggested that the concept of "area" is in principle more interesting in linguistics than in social sciences due to the availability in linguistics of two other unrelated and powerful tools: genetic classification and typology. It is in the light of these other tools that language areas will have to be judged – as what lies beyond the range of both genetic and typological linguistics. It is suggested that ideally, in order for a linguistic area to be "proven": its members will have to be as genetically diverse as possible; and it will not be possible to account for the area-defining features on the basis of typological tendencies and regularities. Moreover, language areas described in terms of similar traits should not be overlapping, and attention will have to be paid in keeping language-external facts (such as historical contact and cultural similarities) at bay and not let them guide our search for language areas.It is further argued that, since one cannot expect the members of the area to be maximally different genetically (i.e., totally unrelated), nor the outcome of contact to be maximally irregular typologically (i.e, typologically impossible), real-world areas cannot plausibly meet these strong requirements in toto. The most one can expect is a gradual implementation of these conditions: language areas will have to be defined negatively as a space-based clustering of features which can not be accounted for genetically or typologically, and membership in them will have to be recognized as continuous rather than discrete.
The Sore Zones of Identity: Past and Present Debates on Funerals in Kyrgyzstan
Authors: Jacquesson Svetlana
Published: March 2011

Identity has been approached in a number of ways but the analyses have usually been centred on the interactions among the living. In this paper I address the question: Does identity play a role when the living pay their respects to the deceased? I argue that the answer is 'yes' in the Kyrgyz case. The paper explores the past and present debates on Kyrgyz funerary practices and focuses more particularly on what could be called, following Herzfeld (1997), the 'sore zones' of identity and the challenge they represent to themodern state.
Abandoned or Merely Lost inTranslation?
Authors: Schoenhals Michael
Published: March 2011

Political action and political thinking ('ideology') provide the twin sets of data on which most conventional analyses of the Chinese Communist Party's transformation are made to rest. The twenty-first century's unprecedented concern with information and communication technologies has underscored, however, the need for analysts to upgrade the relevance of political language to any actionable appreciation of an untidy present and forecasting of a potentially turbulent future. A study that focuses on how language and state officialdom intersect in the areas of propaganda and nationalities/ethnic affairs is reported here. Its findings show how in China in the reform-era of the 1980s and 90s, language control and strategic management of political discourse exercised by cadres in the party propaganda apparatus helped forestall a development along Soviet lines ending with the sudden collapse of the socialist state. The findings indicate that the postreform future – which in parts of the country has, in fact, already arrived – is likely to see the contested disappearance of the traditional symbols and rhetoric of socialism 'as we know it', but that this transformation of discourse must be distinguished from the demise of socialism per se.
The Black Box: Notes on the Anthropology of the Enemy
Authors: Ssorin-Chaikov Nikolai
Published: March 2011

This article critically revisits the Foucauldian perspective on modernity by exploring the constitutive importance of limits of transparency in relations of power and knowledge. It differentiates between Foucault's Panopticon as a model for modernity, which posits a total visibility of subject under modern gaze, and what I call cybernetic ways of knowing that posit the 'black box' of the inner self that is blocked from visibility. The case in point is a comparative study of two anthropologies – two groups of anthropological cadres – the American anthropologists who in the 1940s were involved in emerging Soviet studies, and Soviet anthropologists of the 1920s and 1930s who took part in Soviet reforms. The article draws attention to similarities in their perspective of images and notions of the enemy: the 'enemy of the people' within Soviet society and the Soviet society as the West's Cold War enemy. In doing so, the aim of this article is to develop an ethnographic perspective on state socialism that does not depend on a foundational dualist distinction between 'Soviet' and 'Western' or 'socialist' and 'capitalist' modernity as a starting point.
Chinese Socialism and Local Nationalism in the Discourse of Development
Authors: Guo Xiaolin
Published: March 2011

This paper deals with 'development' — a state discourse formulated initially to transform the ethnic minority societies in China's southwest upon the founding of the People's Republic (PRC) — and how this state discourse has inadvertently served the interests of the ethnic elites in the course of China's current economic reforms. Half a century on, socialism on China's periphery has transformed from being an alien concept to acquiring its present catchphrase-status, underscoring a complex learning process on the part of ethnicminority cadres. Going beyond the conventional static view of binaries (typically, as often seen in English writings, Han versus non-Han and state versus society), this study explores the interaction of a wide range of forces within the political system that shape the dynamics of ethnicity and ethnic relations in China. It shows, as much as ethnic cadres are subject to certain restrictions of the local offices in which they serve, their manoeuvring and creative manipulation of the official language exerts equal constraints on the central state, especially in the context of economic development and nationalities policy. Such a mode of interaction generates, and at the same time mitigates the tension within the bureaucratic system. In this light, the 'embrace' of socialism by the ethnic cadres may indeed be seen as an adaptation through which they justify their relationship with the state. The magic of socialism is, therefore, not the ideology itself, but the policy implementation in its name. In a multiethnic region like southwest China, where ethnic identities remain fluid and local nationalism largely reflects inter-community relations vis-à-vis the state, socialism serves a unique conflict management function. This particular mechanism perhaps offers an explanation for the marked contrast between the former Soviet Union and PRC: in the former, socialism collapsed as a political system but not as a set of values, whereas, in the latter, socialism may have lost its appeal to the majority of the population as a set of values, but has not collapsed as a system.
Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns
Authors: Zuckermann Ghil'ad
Published: March 2011

The aim of this article is to suggest that due to the ubiquitous multiple causation, the revival of a no-longer spoken language is unlikely without cross-fertilization from the revivalists' mother tongue(s). Thus, one should expect revival efforts to result in a language with a hybridic genetic and typological character. The article highlights salient morphological constructions and categories, illustrating the difficulty in determining a single source for the grammar of Israeli, somewhat misleadingly a.k.a. 'Modern Hebrew'. The European impact in these features is apparent inter alia in structure, semantics or productivity. Multiple causation is manifested in the Congruence Principle, according to which if a feature exists in more than one contributing language, it is more likely to persist in the emerging language. Consequently, the reality of linguistic genesis is far more complex than a simple family tree system allows. 'Revived' languages are unlikely to have a single parent. The multisourced nature of Israeli and the role of the Congruence Principle in its genesis have implications for historical linguistics, language planning and the study of language, culture and identity.
Migration, Modernisation and Ethnic Estrangement: Uyghur migration to Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, PRC
Authors: Hopper Ben , Webber Michael
Published: March 2011

In the People's Republic of China, minority nationality peoples have the same formal rights as Han Chinese. However, in Xinjiang, the modernisation project is taking precedence over ethnic harmony as recruitment practices are increasingly disadvantaging the Uyghurs, despite earlier affirmative action policies. Ethnographic and survey research among Urumqi's floating population indicates that Uyghurs are excluded from certain sectors, earn lower incomes and reside in poorer accommodation than Han Chinese, from whom they remain spatially and socially segregated. As the state increasingly relies on the invisible hand of the market, so the commodification of labour relations and property is amplifying social rifts between nationalities. Uneven regional development prompts Han people to migrate into Xinjiang and Uyghurs to migrate to the cities within Xinjiang, bringing these two ethnic groups into competition within a labour market. This has resulted in an ethnic division of labour that exacerbates inter- and intra-ethnic tensions.
A Mahāyānist Movement in the Luohei Shan (Lahu Mountains) of Southwestern Yunnan
Authors: Walker Anthony
Published: March 2011

Some village communities of the mountain-dwelling, Tibeto-Burman speaking Lahu peoples support temples and an associated priesthood, whose principal purpose is to honour their creator-divinity G'ui sha. Neither temples nor ritual devotion to a High God are commonly present among the Lahu people's upland neighbours. Relatively small spirit shrines are the principal form of ritual architecture and high gods are typically seen as being unconcerned with human affairs; consequently, it can serve no useful purpose to “worship” them. This paper seeks to demonstrate that these peculiarities of Lahu custom and belief derive from a Mahayanist movement that swept through the Lahu mountain homelands in southwestern Yunnan, probably beginning in the late seventeenth to mid eighteenth centuries CE. The result was (a) the establishment of temples as the principal form of religious architecture among many (not all) Lahu communities and an identification of their high-god G'ui sha with the Buddha Śākyamuni and consequently–following Mahāyānist ideology – with transcendental Buddhahood.
Choibalsan's Great Mongolia Dream
Authors: Radchenko Sergey
Published: March 2011

This article is an account of Soviet and Mongolian efforts to manipulate a nationalist insurrection in Chinese Altai in 1944–45. For the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin this insurrection, led by a Kazakh nationalist, Osman Batyr, offered an excellent opportunity to attend to Soviet security interests in Xinjiang. For the Prime Minister of the Mongolian People's Republic (MPR), Khorloogiin Choibalsan, Osman represented an important investment in the process of expanding the MPR's regional influence and prestige. Choibalsan intended to co-opt Osman in an expanded Great Mongolia, which he hoped to build up at China's expense by winning the loyalty of the Kazakhs in Xinjiang and the Mongol banners of what is now Inner Mongolia. Stalin supported Choibalsan's vision for a time, until he reached a broader accommodation with China, ending Soviet support for anti-Chinese nationalist movements and putting an end to Choibalsan's Great Mongolia Dream.
Buryat Literature as a Political and Cultural Institution from the 1950s to the 1970s
Authors: Chakars Melissa
Published: March 2011

This paper explores the history of Buryat literature as an institution in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Buryat literature was not simply the creation of Buryat writers. Local Party and government officials, censors, editors, publishers, and others made a substantial contribution to the direction, promotion, and content of Buryat literature. Buryat literature, as well as writers, was widely promoted by local media. Literature was also taught regularly at all levels of education. Buryat writers did not produce any samizdat and they generally did not use literature as a way to explore their pre-Soviet or pre-Russian history and culture as did other Soviet nationalities. Instead, Buryat literature generally emphasised topics that promoted and supported the project of Soviet modernisation. It promoted the value of Soviet leadership, the importance of the friendship of nations and in particular the friendship between Buryats and Russians, and it promoted the idea that life was better for the Buryats in the Soviet Union than it had been in the past or could be anywhere else. In addition, it helped create a new Buryat history that showed how the Buryats played an important role in Soviet historical events such as the Civil War, the October Revolution, the collectivisation of agriculture, and the Second World War. Buryat literature was a place to define and promote the new Soviet Buryat nation and all its modern attributes.
'Our Primitive Customs' and 'Lord Kalym': The Evolving Buryat Discourse on Bride Price, 1880–1930
Authors: Newyear Tristra
Published: March 2011

This paper explores the origins of debate regarding bride price (Rus. kalym) among the Buryats in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as expressed in literary texts and media reports. Buryats began denouncing the practice after the mid nineteenth century, when bride price became more monetised and burdensome for ordinary families arranging marriages for their sons. Progressive, literate Buryats proposed a new approach to marriage and women's roles, based on romantic affinity instead of economic interests. The debate moved community meetings (suglans) to literature and the stage at around the turn of the twentieth century. During the early Soviet era, bride price continued to be denounced by Buryat writers, though it had become increasingly rare. Kalym was transformed into a symbol for women's oppression in general, and a means for demarcating the backwards Buryat past from the progressive Soviet future.
The Adaptation of Young Rural Buryats to Ulan-Ude's Urban and Educational Space
Authors: Buyanova Anna Yur'evna
Published: March 2011

This article explores the repercussions of the demographic changes currently taking place in Buryatia. In particular, it concerns the mass migration of young rural Buryats to Ulan-Ude, in search of a higher education and, eventually, better career prospects. In-depth interviews with a sample of Buryat university students are used to reveal the challenges rural incomers face in adapting to urban life, and the differing strategies they use to overcome them. As these interviews show, the success of a rural Buryat's university career depends on their capacity to change their behaviour and aspirations to fit urban cultural norms.
'With Poem-Bullets Around Our Waist': A Translation of Choinom's Poem 'Buriad' With Notes
Authors: Empson Rebecca , Terbish Baasanjav
Published: March 2011

This article examines Mongolian perspectives on the Buriad through the vector of a poem called 'Buriad', written by the dissident Mongolian poet and writer Choinom Renchin during the socialist era. In the first part, we give a short biography of Choinom, along with an analysis of his poem. We suggest that the poem may be viewed as a critique of dominant Halh perspectives on the Buriad, while raising more general issues to do with historicity, political repression, youth, love, and Mongolian poetry. In the second part, we present the first-ever English translation of Choinom's poem, along with a Mongolian Cyrillic version. This is to add to the slender volume of literature on Mongolian poetry available in English.