bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Perception of Phonological Quantity based on Durational Cues by Native Speakers, Second-language Users and Nonspeakers of Finnish
Authors: Ylinen Sari , Shestakova Anna , Alku Paavo , Huotilainen Minna
Published: December 2008

Some languages, such as Finnish, use speech-sound duration as the primary cue for a phonological quantity distinction. For second-language (L2) learners, quantity is often difficult to master if speech-sound duration plays a less important role in the phonology of their native language (L1). By comparing the categorization performance of native speakers of Finnish, Russian L2 users of Finnish, and non-Finnish-speaking Russians, the present study aimed to determine whether the L2 users, whose native language does not have a quantity distinction, have been able to establish categories for Finnish quantity. The results suggest that the native speakers and some of the L2 users that have been exposed to Finnish for a longer time have access to phonological quantity categories, whereas the L2 users with shorter exposure and the non-Finnish-speaking subjects do not. In addition, by comparing categorization and discrimination tasks it was found that the native speakers show a phoneme-boundary effect for quantity that is cued by duration only, whereas the non-Finnish-speaking subjects and the subjects with low proficiency in Finnish do not.
Issues in the Study of Intonation in Language Varieties
Authors: Warren Paul
Published: December 2008

Some key issues in the study of intonation in language varieties are presented and discussed with reference to recent research on the intonation of New Zealand English. The particular issues that are highlighted include the determination of the intonational phonological categories of a language variety, and the attribution of varietal differences as realizational differences between varieties or as systemic differences in the categories found to be present in each variety.
Pitch Accent Alignment in Romance: Primary and Secondary Associations with Metrical Structure
Authors: Prieto Pilar , D'Imperio Mariapaola , Fivela Barbara Gili
Published: December 2008

The article describes the contrastive possibilities of alignment of high accents in three Romance varieties, namely, Central Catalan, Neapolitan Italian, and Pisa Italian. The Romance languages analyzed in this article provide crucial evidence that small differences in alignment in rising accents should be encoded phonologically. To account for such facts within the AM model, the article develops the notion of “phonological anchoring” as an extension of the concept of secondary association originally proposed by Pierrehumbert and Beckman (1988), and later adopted by Grice (1995), Grice, Ladd, and Arvaniti (2000), and others to explain the behavior of edge tones. The Romance data represent evidence that not only peripheral edge tones seek secondary associations. We claim that the phonological representation of
Microvariation in Accentual Alignment in Basque Spanish
Authors: Elordieta Gorka , Calleja Nagore
Published: December 2008

This paper presents patterns of accentual alignment in two varieties of Spanish spoken in the Basque Country: Lekeitio Spanish (LS), with speakers whose other native language is Lekeitio Basque (LB); and Vitoria Spanish (VS), with monolingual speakers of Spanish from the city of Vitoria. These patterns are compared to those of Madrid Spanish (MS), compare Face (2002). In LS, accents are realized as pitch rises rather than falls, like in MS and unlike in LB, but peaks are aligned before the offset of the accented syllable, unlike in MS and like in LB. At the end of the subject phrase, peaks display later alignment, like in MS. Thus, LS displays mixed properties of Basque and Spanish intonation. In VS, stress is also realized as a tonal rise, with peaks aligned after the offset of the accented syllable, like in other varieties of Spanish and unlike LS. The low tone target is aligned before the onset of the stressed syllable, earlier than in LS and MS. The continuum of tonal target alignment is observed in LS, VS, and MS, and the difficulties in identifying a “starred” tone lead to a discussion of the suitability of the starred tone notation.
Combining Techniques to Reveal Emergent Effects in Infants' Segmentation, Word Learning, and Grammar
Authors: Hollich George
Published: December 2008

This paper provides three representative examples that highlight the ways in which procedures can be combined to study interactions across traditional domains of study: segmentation, word learning, and grammar. The first section uses visual familiarization prior to the Headturn Preference Procedure to demonstrate that synchronized visual information aids in speech segmentation in noise. The second section uses audio familiarization prior to the Preferential Looking Procedure to demonstrate that speech perception aids in the learning of meaning. The third section uses visual familiarization prior to the Preferential Looking Procedure to demonstrate that attentional distractions inhibit grammatical understanding. Thus, what infants see affects what they hear. What infants hear affects the words they learn. What infants remember affects the sentences they understand.
Visual Influences on Perception of Speech and Nonspeech Vocal-Tract Events
Authors: Brancazio Lawrence , Best Catherine T. , Fowler Carol A.
Published: December 2008

We report four experiments designed to determine whether visual information affects judgments of acoustically-specified nonspeech events as well as speech events (the “McGurk effect”). Previous findings have shown only weak McGurk effects for nonspeech stimuli, whereas strong effects are found for consonants. We used click sounds that serve as consonants in some African languages, but that are perceived as nonspeech by American English listeners. We found a significant McGurk effect for clicks presented in isolation that was much smaller than that found for stop-consonant-vowel syllables. In subsequent experiments, we found strong McGurk effects, comparable to those found for English syllables, for click-vowel syllables, and weak effects, comparable to those found for isolated clicks, for excised release bursts of stop consonants presented in isolation. We interpret these findings as evidence that the potential contributions of speech-specific processes on the McGurk effect are limited, and discuss the results in relation to current explanations for the McGurk effect.
Word-minimality, Epenthesis and Coda Licensing in the Early Acquisition of English
Authors: Demuth Katherine , Culbertson Jennifer , Alter Jennifer
Published: December 2008

Many languages exhibit constraints on prosodic words, where lexical items must be composed of at least two moras of structure, or a binary foot. Demuth and Fee (1995) proposed that children demonstrate early sensitivity to word-minimality effects, exhibiting a period of vowel lengthening or vowel epenthesis if coda consonants cannot be produced. This paper evaluates this proposal by examining the development of word-final coda consonants in the spontaneous speech of four English-speaking children between the ages of one and two. Although there was no evidence of vowel lengthening, coda consonants were more accurately produced in monosyllabic target words with monomoriac vowels, suggesting earlier use of coda consonants in contexts where they can be prosodified as part of a bimoraic foot. One child also showed extensive use of vowel epenthesis and coda consonant aspiration concurrent with the production of codas. However, we show that this was due to the articulatory challenges of producing complex syllable structures rather than an attempt to produce well-formed minimal words. These results suggest that learners of English may exhibit an early awareness of moraic structure at the level of the syllable, but that language-specific constraints regarding word-minimality may be acquired later than originally thought.
Grammar and Frequency Effects in the Acquisition of Prosodic Words in European Portuguese
Authors: Vigário Marina , Freitas Maria João , Frota Sónia
Published: December 2008

This paper investigates the acquisition of prosodic words in European Portuguese (EP) through analysis of grammatical and statistical properties of the target language and child speech. The analysis of grammatical properties shows that there are solid cues to the prosodic word (PW) in EP, and the presence of early word-based phonology in child speech shows that EP children are aware of these cues. It is thus hypothesized that grammatical properties could play a role in the development of the PW by promoting the early production of the different word shapes found in the language. The analysis of statistical properties of the input, namely word shape frequencies in adult speech and child-directed speech, shows that they constrain early word shapes in child speech in ways similar to recent reports on other languages: a fairly high frequency of monosyllabic shapes, and especially of monosyllabic CV shapes, in the input agrees with the production of subminimal words in child speech; a fairly high frequency of trisyllabic and larger shapes in the input (adult speech in particular) matches the early development of words larger than a binary foot. These patterns, together with the co-occurrence of truncation to subminimal shapes in the initial and later stages, as well as the presence of prosodic fillers regardless of word size, support the claim that early words in EP are not constrained by minimality or maximality requirements. The potential interaction of grammar and frequency effects in PW acquisition is discussed in the light of the present findings and comparable data available in the literature for English, French, Spanish and Catalan.
The Relevance of Metrical Information in Early Prosodic Word Acquisition: A Comparison of Catalan and Spanish
Authors: Prieto Pilar
Published: December 2008

This paper focuses on the development of Prosodic Word shapes in Catalan, a language which differs from both Spanish and English in the distribution of PW structures. Of particular interest are the truncations of initial unstressed syllables, and how these develop over time. Developmental qualitative and quantitative data from seven Catalan-speaking children reveal that maximality constraints are active at two stages, namely, the moraic trochee stage, and the bisyllabic foot stage. One of the noteworthy differences between Catalan and Spanish is the rate of acquisition of weak initial syllables in WS words, as Catalan learners omit initial syllables in WS target iambs for a significantly longer time than Spanish learners, despite the fact that Catalan is a language where the bisyllabic iambic WS pattern is more frequent than in Spanish. We claim that this asymmetry in the course of development of PWs can be attributed to the frequency of exposure to different metrical models. In Catalan (and also in English), the high
Tonal Association and Tonal Alignment: Evidence from Greek Polar Questions and Contrastive Statements
Authors: Arvaniti Amalia , Ladd D. Robert , Mennen Ineke
Published: December 2008

This paper compares the production and perception of the rise-fall contour of contrastive statements and the final rise-fall part of polar questions in Greek. The results show that these superficially similar rise-falls exhibit fine phonetic differences in the alignment of tonal targets with the segmental string, and that these differences can be used by native speakers under experimental conditions to identify the two contour types. It is further shown here that the observed differences in alignment are best attributed to differences in the overall tonal composition of these contours, which results in different degrees of crowding for the targets involved. This analysis accounts for the differences in phonetic detail between the two contours, while obviating the need to posit distinct secondary associations for the peak of the rise-fall. It is suggested that differences in phonetic alignment should be formalized by means of the secondary association mechanism only if simpler analyses and explanations have been considered and shown not to account effectively for the data. Finally, the perceptual results suggest that even small alignment differences like those observed here have a role in perception and should therefore be specified in a full description of the phonetic implementation of tunes.
Phonetics and Phonology of Thematic Contrast in German
Authors: Braun Bettina
Published: December 2008

It is acknowledged that contrast plays an important role in understanding discourse and information structure. While it is commonly assumed that contrast can be marked by intonation only, our understanding of the intonational realization of contrast is limited. For German there is mainly introspective evidence that the rising theme accent (or topic accent) is realized differently when signaling contrast than when not. In this article, the acoustic basis for the reported impressionistic differences is investigated in terms of the scaling (height) and alignment (positioning) of tonal targets.

Subjects read target sentences in a contrastive and a noncontrastive context (Experiment 1). Prosodic annotation revealed that thematic accents were not realized with different accent types in the two contexts but acoustic comparison showed that themes in contrastive context exhibited a higher and later peak. The alignment and scaling of accents can hence be controlled in a linguistically meaningful way, which has implications for intonational phonology. In Experiment 2, nonlinguists' perception of a subset of the production data was assessed. They had to choose whether, in a contrastive context, the presumed contrastive or noncontrastive realization of a sentence was more appropriate. For some sentence pairs only, subjects had a clear preference. For Experiment 3, a group of linguists annotated the thematic accents of the contrastive and noncontrastive versions of the same data as used in Experiment 2. There was considerable disagreement in labels, but different accent types were consistently used when the two versions differed strongly in F0 excursion. Although themes in contrastive contexts were clearly produced differently than themes in noncontrastive contexts, this difference is not easily perceived or annotated.
What Does More Time Buy You? AnotherLook at the Effects of Long-Term Residence on Production Accuracy of English / / and / l / by Japanese Speakers
Authors: Larson-Hall Jenifer
Published: December 2008

This study tested the issue of whether extended length of residence (LOR) in adulthood can provide sufficient input to overcome age effects. The study replicates Flege, Takagi, and Mann (1995), which found that 10 out of 12 Japanese learners of English with extensive residence (12 years or more) produced liquids as accurately as native speakers of English (NS). Further, for both accuracy and native-like accentedness, the Japanese with extensive residence performed statistically better as a group than inexperienced Japanese (less than 3 years of residence). Results with a new sample of Japanese learners in this study found no statistical difference between the Japanese groups with extended versus short LOR although both reported equal levels of daily input in English. Additionally, both groups received statistically lower scores than NS. Moreover, LOR affected the two groups differently: The accuracy and native-like accentedness of words and sentences by Japanese with extensive residence declined with LOR (and chronological age when age of arrival was partialled out), while for Japanese with short residence accent improved with increased LOR (but not age). This study is the first to document a decline in second language production ability with LOR and age in older second language learners. However, this finding deserves to be addressed with further research, as the study was not designed to investigate this question and thus not all relevant factors, such as motivation or attitude, were controlled for. The results from the short-residence learners indicate that the initial one to two years of immersion may be the most important for improving phonological ability.
Perceptual Distortions in the Adaptation of English Consonant Clusters: Syllable Structure or Consonantal Contact Constraints?
Authors: Kabak Bariş , Idsardi William J.
Published: December 2008

We present the results from an experiment that tests the perception of English consonantal sequences by Korean speakers and we confirm that perceptual epenthesis in a second languge (L2) arises from syllable structure restrictions of the first language (L1), rather than linear co-occurence restrictions. Our study replicates and extends Dupoux, Kakehi, Hirose, Pallier, & Mehler's (1999) results that suggested that listeners perceive epenthetic vowels within consonantal sequences that violate the phonotactics of their L1. Korean employs at least two kinds of phonotactic restrictions: (i) syllable structure restrictions that prohibit the occurence of certain consonants in coda position (e.g., *[c.], *[g.]), while allowing others (e.g., [k.], [l.]), and (ii) consonantal contact restrictions that ban the co-occurrence of certain heterosyllabic consonants (e.g., *[k.m]; *[l.n]) due to various phonological processes that repair such sequences on the surface (i.e., /k.m/ → [ŋ.m]; /l.n / → [l.l]). The results suggest that Korean syllable structure restrictions, rather than consonantal contact restrictions, result in the perception of epenthetic vowels. Furthermore, the frequency of co-occurrence fails to explain the epenthesis effects in the percept of consonant clusters employed in the present study. We address questions regarding the interaction between speech perception and phonology and test the validity of Steriade's (2001 a,b) Perceptual-Mapping (P-Map) hypothesis for the Korean sonorant assimilation processes. Our results indicate that Steriade's hypothesis makes incorrect predictions about Korean phonology and that speech perception is not isomorphic to speech production.
The Role of Additional Processing Time and Lexical Constraint in Spoken Word Recognition
Authors: LoCasto Paul C. , Connine Cynthia M. , Patterson David
Published: December 2008

Three phoneme monitoring experiments examined the manner in which additional processing time influences spoken word recognition. Experiment 1a introduced a version of the phoneme monitoring paradigm in which a silent interval is inserted prior to the word-final target phoneme. Phoneme monitoring reaction time decreased as the silent interval increased indicating that lexical knowledge was utilized more effectively with additional processing time. Experiment 1b used short, medium, and long words and derived nonwords with word-initial mismatching segments. Phoneme monitoring response times to words and nonwords were sensitive to both additional processing time (silent interval delay) and word length. Experiment 2 examined the utilization of anticipatory coarticulation as a function of word length and additional processing time. The results suggest that (segmental and coarticulatory) information subsequent to mismatching information influences spoken word recognition in a manner dependent on word length and availability of additional processing time.
Jaw and Order
Authors: Mooshammer Christine , Hoole Philip , Geumann Anja
Published: December 2008

It is well-accepted that the jaw plays an active role in influencing vowel height. The general aim of the current study is to further investigate the extent to which the jaw is active in producing consonantal distinctions, with specific focus on coronal consonants. Therefore, tongue tip and jaw positions are compared for the German coronal consonants /s, , t, d, n, l/, that is, consonants having the same active articulators (apical/laminal) but differing in manner of articulation. In order to test the stability of articulatory positions for each of these coronal consonants, a natural perturbation paradigm was introduced by recording two levels of vocal effort: comfortable, and loud without shouting. Tongue and jaw movements of five speakers of German were recorded by means of EMMA during /aCa/ sequences. By analyzing the tongue tip and jaw positions and their spatial variability we found that (1) the jaw's contribution to these consonants varies with manner of articulation, and (2) for all coronal consonants the positions are stable across loudness conditions except for those of the nasal. Results are discussed with respect to the tasks of the jaw, and the possible articulatory adjustments that may accompany louder speech.
The Analysis of Low Accentuation in Estonian
Authors: Asu Eva Liina , Nolan Francis
Published: December 2008

In Estonian, as in a number of other languages, the nuclear pitch accent is often low and level. This paper presents two studies of this phenomenon. The first, a phonetic analysis of carefully structured read sentences shows that low accentuation can also spread to the prenuclear accents in an intonational phrase. The resulting sentence contours are used as evidence to evaluate alternative phonological analyses of low accentuation, and H+L* is shown to account best for the data. The second study presents quantitative evidence from fundamental frequency values which supports this phonological analysis. Finally, the distribution of prenuclear pitch accents is discussed. High and low accents can co-occur in an intonational phrase, but only in patterns obeying a specific sequential constraint. A fragment of an intonational grammar for Estonian is presented capturing the observed distributional restrictions.
Perception of Dialect Variation in Noise: Intelligibility and Classification
Authors: Clopper Cynthia G. , Bradlow Ann R.
Published: December 2008

Listeners can explicitly categorize unfamiliar talkers by regional dialect with above-chance performance under ideal listening conditions. However, the extent to which this important source of variation affects speech processing is largely unknown. In a series of four experiments, we examined the effects of dialect variation on speech intelligibility in noise and the effects of noise on perceptual dialect classification. Results revealed that, on the one hand, dialect-specific differences in speech intelligibility were more pronounced at harder signal-to-noise ratios, but were attenuated under more favorable listening conditions. Listener dialect did not interact with talker dialect; for all listeners, at a range of noise levels, the General American talkers were the most intelligible and the Mid-Atlantic talkers were the least intelligible. Dialect classification performance, on the other hand, was poor even with only moderate amounts of noise. These findings suggest that at moderate noise levels, listeners are able to adapt to dialect variation in the acoustic signal such that some cross-dialect intelligibility differences are neutralized, despite relatively poor explicit dialect classification performance. However, at more difficult noise levels, participants cannot effectively adapt to dialect variation in the acoustic signal and cross-dialect differences in intelligibility emerge for all listeners, regardless of their dialect.
The Shape of Nuclear Falls and their Effect on the Perception of Pitch and Prominence: Peaks vs. Plateaux
Authors: Knight Rachael-Anne
Published: December 2008

This article investigates the perceptual effect of a high plateau in the intonation contour. Plateaux are flat stretches of contour and have been observed associated with high tones in Standard Southern British (SSB) English. The hypothesis that plateaux may make the accents with which they are associated sound higher in pitch than sharp peaks of the same maximum frequency is tested experimentally. In the first experiment listeners heard pairs of resynthesized utterances where the nuclear accent differed only in shape, not frequency. They indicated which stimulus they thought contained the higher pitched accent. Results showed that plateau-shaped accents sound higher than peaks. In the second experiment the effect of a plateau on prominence relations within an utterance is investigated. Listeners heard resynthesized sentences, and compared two accents. One group indicated which accent sounded higher in pitch and the other indicated which sounded more prominent. Results again indicated that plateau-shaped accents sound higher in pitch and also more prominent; judgments of pitch and prominence were very similar to one another. The results from both experiments indicated that accent shape is a perceptually important variable, although such a fine level of detail is not taken into account by autosegmental-metrical theories of intonation.
The Phonetic Context of American English Flapping: Quantitative Evidence
Authors: Eddington David , Elzinga Dirk
Published: December 2008

The phonetic context in which word-medial flaps occur (in contrast to [th]) in American English is explored. The analysis focuses on stress placement, following phone, and syllabification. In Experiment 1, subjects provided their preference for [th] or [ ] in bisyllabic nonce words. Consistent with previous studies, flaps were preferred before stressless syllables and [th] before stressed syllables, but the following phone also exerted a small degree of influence. Experiments 2 and 3 tested whether [th ] or [ ] are associated with a particular syllable position in bisyllabic words. They demonstrate that [th] is favored in onsets, while [ ] is not consistently placed in either the onset or coda, nor is it generally ambisyllabic. These findings contradict analyses that posit syllable division as a conditioning factor in the appearance of [th] versus [ ]. Experiment 4 examined the pronunciation of 480 multisyllabic words from the TIMIT corpus. VCV was seen to favor [ ], while VCV favored [th]. In addition, flaps tend to be followed by syllabic sonorants and [th] by tense vowels. Because the following phones that influenced [th] and [ ] in Experiment 4 differ from those that were significant in Experiment 1, more research is necessary into the effect that following phones have on the appearance of [th] and [ ].
Aerobic Exercise for Alcohol Recovery
Authors: Brown Richard A. , Abrantes Ana M. , Read Jennifer P. , Marcus Bess H. , Jakicic John , Strong David R. , Oakley Julie R. , Ramsey Susan E. , Kahler Christopher W. , Stuart Gregory , Dubreuil Mary Ella , Gordon Alan A.
Published: December 2008

Alcohol use disorders are a major public health concern. Despite the demonstrated efficacy of a number of different treatments for alcohol dependence, relapse remains a major problem. Healthy lifestyle changes may contribute to long-term maintenance of recovery, and interventions targeting physical activity, in particular, may be especially valuable as an adjunct to alcohol treatment. In this article, the authors discuss the rationale and review potential mechanisms of action whereby exercise might benefit alcohol dependent patients in recovery. They then describe the development of a 12-week moderate-intensity aerobic exercise program as an adjunctive intervention for alcohol dependent patients in recovery. Preliminary data from a pilot study ( N = 19) are presented, and the overall significance of this research effort is discussed.
Mechanical and Electrical Properties of Poalyaniline Incorporated Polyvinyl Acetate—Polyester Nonwoven Fabric Composites
Authors: Kumar M.N. SATHEESH , Siddaramaiah
Published: December 2008

Polyvinyl acetate latex was loaded with various amounts of polyaniline (Pani) dispersion, viz., 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10% dry weight by weight. The elemental analysis of the blends revealed that the nitrogen content increased with increase in the Pani. The UV-visible spectrum of PVAc/Pani (96/4) showed a compact coil confirmation. A series of composites were fabricated by impregnating the needle punched polyester nonwoven fabric in polyaniline (Pani) filled polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) latex. The effect of different amounts of Pani on the mechanical properties such as tensile strength, percentage elongation, hardness, and burst strength have been studied. The electrical properties such as conductivity, dielectric constant, and dissipation factor of the composites found to increase with increase in the Pani content. The dielectric properties of the composites have been investigated as a function of frequency and Pani content. The effects of temperature on the electrical conductivity of the composites have been studied.
Evaluation of Public Participation
Authors: Laurian Lucie , Shaw Mary Margaret
Published: December 2008

Public participation has become a central element of planning activity over the last decades. The planning literature has given considerable attention to participation in theory and practice, discussing its benefits for democratic governance, its multiple goals and criteria for assessing success. Although planning academics and practitioners understand the importance of participation and know that participatory processes often fail, the field of participation evaluation lags behind. This paper explores how often, why and how planners evaluate participation in practice. It builds on data collected through a nationally representative survey of 761 AICP-certified planners. We find that they rarely evaluate participation formally. Informal evaluations rely on a wide range of criteria about participation processes and outcomes consistent with the criteria identified by planning theory. The paper presents these evaluation criteria and the practices and recommendation of the planners with most experience in participation evaluation.
Dreams of My Daughter: An Ectopic Pregnancy
Authors: Lahman Maria K. E.
Published: December 2008

Autoethnographic narrative, personal journal excerpts, and artifacts were employed to narrate the story of my ectopic pregnancy and experiences with the medical field. The name “Doctor” is invoked as a way of objectifying yet protecting the anonymity of the doctor who objectified and did not protect me. A methodological discussion of the following tensions in autoethnography is presented: intimacy/professionality, art/science, showing/explaining.
Retinal architecture predicts pupillary reflex metrics in MS
Authors: Salter AR , Conger A , Frohman TC , Zivadinov R , Eggenberger E , Calabresi P , Cutter G , Balcer L , Frohman EM
Published: December 2008

Objective

To study the relation of retinal nerve fiber layer thinning to clinical and physiologic measures of visual function in patients with MS or neuromyelitis optica and unilateral optic neuropathy.

Methods

We studied a cohort of control subjects ( n = 64) and patients ( n = 24) with evidence of unilateral thinning of their average retinal nerve fiber layer as measured by optical coherence tomography in order to characterize the relationship between ganglion cell axonal degeneration and its impact upon vision and pupillary light reflex metrics using infrared pupillometry.

Results

When compared to the normal fellow eye, and with respect to normal subjects’ eyes, we confirmed significant abnormalities in retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, total macular volume, low-contrast letter acuity, and pupillary reflex metrics in the eye with the thinner retinal nerve fiber layer. For each −5% change in pupil diameter, there was a corresponding 7.1 µm reduction in the average retinal nerve fiber layer thickness. There was a significant difference between the pupillary metric of percent change in diameter and a decrease in low-contrast letter acuity ( P < 0.001). Each −5% change in pupil diameter was associated with a substantial 3.4 line loss of low-contrast letter acuity ( P < 0.001). Each −5% change in pupil diameter was associated with a 0.2 mm2 decrease in total macular volume ( P < 0.001).

Conclusion

These findings further corroborate the hypothesis that the retina can be utilized as a model to advance our understanding of the mechanisms of axonal and neurodegeneration, and the corresponding impact of these processes upon the pathophysiology of MS and related disorders.
Interfaces in the prosodic hierarchy: New structures and the phonological parser
Authors: Archibald John
Published: December 2008

In this paper I investigate the assignation of syllabic structure to segments in second language learners invoking principles of parsing and learnability. Drawing on the model of Phillips (1996) in parsing, and the work of Fodor (1999) and Dresher (1999) in learnability, I discuss the implications for second language learning. I also look at the question of whether new phonological structure can be triggered if that structure is lacking in the first language. Drawing on evidence from the acquisition of (1) phonological features in Japanese, Chinese and French learners of English, as well as English learners of Czech, and (2) moraic structure by an English speaker learning Japanese consonant and vowel length contrasts, I argue that second language learners can trigger new prosodic structure. The process of acquisition is a combination of acquiring new structures, and mapping the interfaces of different levels of structure via a phonological parser.
The performativity of codeswitching
Authors: Stroud Christopher
Published: December 2008

Many problems in codeswitching theory point to a lack of fit between linguistic data and a sufficiently elaborated theory of social life. In this paper, codeswitching will be viewed as one type of socioculturally informed discourse mediating speakers' responses to social, cultural, economic and symbolic capital. The conversational data for this study comprise an informal meeting between women comerciantes in postcolonial Mozambique, a community characterized by weak state organization, a plenitude of informal markets and divisive social conflicts manifested in heteroglossic speech practices. The data is analyzed in relation to Judith Butler's performativity theory, and seen as part of the reflexive constitution of power and agency in local sites formed by the productivity of economic failure. By way of conclusion, some implications for common concepts of
Nonparallel recovery in bilingual aphasia: Effects of language choice, language proficiency, and treatment
Authors: Gil Mali , Goral Mira
Published: December 2008

We describe a 57-year-old Russian-Hebrew bilingual aphasic patient who received speech-language therapy in his second language (Hebrew) in the first three-and-a-half months post onset and then in his first language (Russian) for an additional month and a half. He was first diagnosed with Expressive-Receptive aphasia in both languages. After four weeks of treatment in the second language, his language skills improved and he was subsequently diagnosed with Predominantly Receptive aphasia in both languages. Three-and-a-half months post onset, he was diagnosed differently in the two languages: Predominantly Receptive aphasia in Hebrew and Amnestic aphasia in Russian. Following additional six weeks of therapy, this time in his first language (Russian), the patient was diagnosed as Amnestic in both his languages. We present the course of his improvement as seen in four successive evaluation periods in both the treated and nontreated languages, in all language modalities. We address various factors that may have contributed to the nonparallel recovery of the two languages and discuss the relative contribution of spontaneous recovery, therapeutic transfer, language proficiency, language use, and structural relations between the two languages.
First language attrition and syntactic subjects: A study of Greek and Italian near-native speakers of English
Authors: Tsimpli Ianthi , Sorace Antonella , Heycock Caroline , Filiaci Francesca
Published: December 2008

In this paper we present some results from an experimental study that we have been conducting into the effects of syntactic attrition on the L1 of Greek and Italian speakers who have achieved near-native proficiency in their L2 (English) but still use their L1 on a regular basis. In particular, we test the hypothesis, developed on the basis of assumptions regarding syntactic modularity, that the changes in L1 syntax will be restricted to the interface with the conceptual /intentional cognitive systems. The area of investigation is the domain of grammatical subjects in Greek and Italian. More specifically, we tested the participants on the production and interpretation of null and overt subjects, and of preverbal and postverbal subjects. We also elicited grammaticality judgments on subject extraction and subject position in various syntactic contexts. In this paper we report on the results of one of the production tasks (of preverbal and postverbal subjects) and two interpretation tasks. Attrition effects are found in the production of preverbal subjects in the Greek group whereas Italian speakers show attrition effects in the interpretation of overt pronominal subjects. We argue that these results are in the right direction, that is, that semantic features are vulnerable in language attrition whereas syntactic options remain intact.
Frenchville French: A case study in phonological attrition
Authors: Bullock Barbara E. , Gerfen Chip
Published: December 2008

This paper investigates the phonetic and phonological properties of a contracting variety of French spoken in Frenchville, PA, a linguistic enclave community. Specifically, we analyze a pattern of convergence versus preservation that cannot be convincingly explained or understood given current proposals of the process of phonological convergence and attrition in a bilingual contact situation. We demonstrate that our speakers preserve some low level information while sacrificing other phonetic details. In the case under investigation, there is a gradient replacement of the French mid front rounded vowels with an English-like rhoticized schwa but our speakers maintain language specific, phonetically distinct rhotic consonants. We argue that the patterns of loss versus maintenance that emerge are not necessarily driven by the need to preserve contrastive features with a high functional load. Equally plausible accounts for these patterns may lie in acoustic salience, the sociolinguistic marking of identity, and competition between articulatory demands.
A historical study of codeswitching in writing: German and Latin in Schottelius' Ausführliche Arbeit von der Teutschen HaubtSprache (1663)
Authors: McLelland Nicola
Published: December 2008

The paper examines a major 17th century German text by the language theorist Justus-Georg Schottelius as an example of codeswitching in writing, an area which has received scant attention since an important study of Luther's bilingual Tischreden 40 years ago (Stolt, 1964). The paper analyzes the extent and types of Latin-German mixing in Schottelius' writing, and argues that, even though written, these are instances of codeswitching, that is, the use of two codes in the same “communicative event.” The paper identifies some pragmatic triggers for such codeswitching. It further finds that in Schottelius, embedded language (EL) constituents are always inflected according to the EL system, which appears to violate the System Morpheme Principle and Double Morphology Principle (Myers-Scotton, 1993a). It therefore hypothesizes that inflection according to EL rules need not be blocked, if the EL and ML (matrix language) are typologically close enough for speakers to be aware of morphological equivalence between morphemes in the ML and morphemes with a parallel function in the EL. Finally, it argues that differences between Luther's codeswitching practice (see Stolt, 1964) and that of Schottelius a century later confirm that codeswitching is an inherently unstable practice which must be seen in the context of wider language change and/ or language shift.
The effect of the early teaching of English on writing proficiency
Authors: Doiz Aintzane , Lasagabaster David
Published: December 2008

The new political space shaped by the European Union has boosted the learning of foreign languages, however, the English language has acquired a higher profile than any other foreign language. The learning of English as the main foreign language in Spanish schools is overwhelming and since 1993, when the Educational Reform was passed, its learning has been established from the age of eight onwards. Thus, in the Spanish bilingual communities such as the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia students have to deal with a third language from a very early stage. However, despite the spread of this early teaching, there are very few studies available on its effectiveness in formal contexts. Thus, this paper analyzes the impact of early teaching on students' written production, the language skill that theoretically should benefit least from a methodology which is basically focused on oral production and comprehension. The results demonstrated that the early teaching has a positive effect on the communicative competence in writing shown by the experimental students (started at the age of 8) when compared with the control group (started at the age of 11). These results are explained in terms of Cummins's (1980) Common Underlying Proficiency model of bilingualism.
Universal human concepts as a tool for exploring bilingual lives
Authors: Wierzbicka Anna
Published: December 2008

Embodied within every language is a unique universe of meaning. This raises some key questions about the conceptual universes of bilingual persons: What meanings does a bilingual person live with? How does such a person (in contrast with a monolingual person) think and feel? How are their thoughts and emotions related to their two different languages? In order to investigate these questions we need to listen to the subjective experience of bilingual people and, in particular, bilingual writers who have been able to reflect deeply on their personal experience and to articulate their own insights (cf. Besemeres, 2002). We also need to analyze semantic differences between languages and try to link the “soft” subjective experience of bilingual persons with “hard” objective evidence derived from rigorous semantic analysis. Finally, we need to recognize that in order to compare the different meanings that bilingual persons live with, we need a common measure at our disposal. In this paper, I will argue that the “Natural Semantic Metalanguage” based on empirically established lexical and grammatical universals (Goddard & Wierzbicka, 1994, 2002) provides such a common measure, and I will try to show how the use of this metalanguage can help us to explore the conceptual worlds of bilingual people more effectively and more revealingly.
The role of illocutionary operators in the emerging grammars of bilingual children
Authors: Hulk Aafke , van der Linden Elisabeth
Published: December 2008

In this paper, we bring together recent discussions about the role of function words in emerging monolingual grammars with the discussion about role of these words in mixed utterances in emerging bilingual grammars.

Recently several linguists have addressed the question of determining the organizing principles of early syntax in developing grammars of monolingual children. Van Kampen (this volume), Tracy (2002), among others, note that in early two-word utterances certain “function” words occur very frequently and play a special role: they appear as illocutionary operators and seem to have a bootstrapping function with respect to the development of syntactic structure. In this article, we consider spontaneous production data from three bilingual Dutch/French children and seek to answer the question whether the role of “function” words is the same in these bilingual developing grammars as in monolingual grammars. We show that this indeed appears to be the case. We then examine the claim by Deuchar and Quay (2000) that “function words” are mixed more readily than other words. We argue that our data do not present convincing arguments in favor of such a hypothesis.
Codeswitching at the interface of language-specific lexicons and the computational system
Authors: Cantone Katja Francesca , Müller Natascha
Published: December 2008

It has been noted by many researchers that young bilingual children pass through a stage of early mixing which extends approximately until the age of 2;6 and ends abruptly. Research on bilingual first language acquisition has clearly excluded the possibility to explain mixed utterances as the result of a fused lexical or grammatical system. However, the actual debate on the reasons for early mixing still continues. Two main approaches have dominated the field of language mixing in adults: One assumes that adult's codeswitching is constrained by grammatical principles, suggesting that a third grammar is responsible for the grammaticality of mixed utterances (e.g., the Equivalence Constraint formulated by Poplack (1980), or the Functional Head Constraint formulated by Belazi, Rubin & Toribio (1994) among others). Since child grammar is supposed to be organized differently from adult grammar, the grammatical “ingredients” of the principles which constrain codeswitching are absent in early child language (Köppe & Meisel, 1995). It therefore follows that early mixing in young bilingual children is not to be considered as constrained by any grammatical principles. The other approach argues that codeswitching in adults is not regulated by external grammatical principles, but that the only constraints which govern codeswitching are those required by the two languages involved (MacSwan, 2000). We will show that this assumption holds for child language as well. Our analysis of mixing opens the perspective that child grammar can be considered to be organized in the same way as adult grammar. Furthermore, we will argue that early mixing is related to developing performance abilities, in the present paper to the readiness on the bilingual child's part to speak the language(s).
“I'm forgetting both”: L1 maintenance and codeswitching in Finnish-English language contact
Authors: Halmari Helena
Published: December 2008

This article is a case study investigating the maintenance of Finnish in the language of two young Finnish-American bilinguals. The main source of data is a 90mins audio-taped conversation between the research participants, which was recorded in Finland after they had lived eight years in the United States and become fully fluent in English. Three main questions are addressed: (1) Are there signs of first language attrition or change from Finland-Finnish patterns in the area of morphosyntax? (2) Are there signs of imperfect acquisition of Finnish lexicon? (3) Can the research participants' codeswithing patterns be seen as indications of attrition in Finnish morphosyntax and/or imperfect acquisition of Finnish?
Resisting the grammatical change: Nominal groups in Turkish-Norwegian codeswitching
Authors: Türker Emel
Published: December 2008

This article deals with a particular grammatical feature in the Turkish-Norwegian codeswitching data, namely the nominal groups, with the help of the Matrix Language Frame model Myers-Scotton, 1993a [1997]). The main point here is to focus on the issue of stability, rather than change, in Turkish when in contact with Norwegian in a bilingual immigrant context. The data present us with rich information about how the Turkish grammatical frame organizes the grammatical setting both for mixed Turkish + Norwegian constituents and for Norwegian compound nouns. In both cases the necessary Turkish genitive and/or possessive markers are employed according to the Turkish grammatical rules, instead of omitting especially the possessive suffix (or, as it is also called here, the compound marker). Normally a change in Turkish spoken in Norway is expected to occur due to intense language contact, however, in this case, morphosyntactic stability is observed.