bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Study of Materials Deformation in Nanometric Cutting by Large-scale Molecular Dynamics Simulations
Authors: Pei QX , Lu C , Lee HP , Zhang YW
Published: February 2009

Nanometric cutting involves materials removal and deformation evolution in the surface at nanometer scale. At this length scale, atomistic simulation is a very useful tool to study the cutting process. In this study, large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with the model size up to 10 millions atoms have been performed to study three-dimensional nanometric cutting of copper. The EAM potential and Morse potential are used, respectively, to compute the interaction between workpiece atoms and the interactions between workpiece atoms and tool atoms. The material behavior, surface and subsurface deformation, dislocation movement, and cutting forces during the cutting processes are studied. We show that the MD simulation model of nanometric cutting has to be large enough to eliminate the boundary effect. Moreover, the cutting speed and the cutting depth have to be considered in determining a suitable model size for the MD simulations. We have observed that the nanometric cutting process is accompanied with complex material deformation, dislocation formation, and movement. We find that as the cutting depth decreases, the tangential cutting force decreases faster than the normal cutting force. The simulation results reveal that as the cutting depth decreases, the specific cutting force increases, i.e., “size effect” exists in nanometric cutting.
The neural basis of auditory temporal discrimination in girls with fragile X syndrome
Authors: Hall Scott S. , Walter Elizabeth , Sherman Elena , Hoeft Fumiko , Reiss Allan L.
Published: February 2009

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a common genetic disorder in which temporal processing may be impaired. To our knowledge however, no studies have examined the neural basis of temporal discrimination in individuals with FXS using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Ten girls with fragile X syndrome and ten developmental age-matched typically developing controls performed an auditory temporal discrimination task in a 3T scanner. Girls with FXS showed significantly greater brain activation in a left-lateralized network, comprising left medial frontal gyrus, left superior and middle temporal gyrus, left cerebellum, and left brainstem (pons), when compared to a developmental age-matched typically developing group of subjects who had similar in-scanner task performance. There were no regions that showed significantly greater brain activation in the control group compared to individuals with FXS. These data indicate that networks of brain regions involved in auditory temporal processing may be dysfunctional in FXS. In particular, it is possible that girls with FXS employ left hemispheric resources to overcompensate for relative right hemispheric dysfunction.
Continuous Methanolysis of Palm Oil Using a Liquid–Liquid Film Reactor
Authors: Narváez P. C. , Sánchez F. J. , Godoy‐Silva R. D.
Published: February 2009

A system for the continuous methanolysis of palm oil using a liquid–liquid film reactor (LLFR) was developed and characterized. This reactor is a co‐current, constant diameter (0.01 m), custom‐made packed column where the mass transfer area between the partially miscible methanol‐rich and vegetable oil‐rich phases is created in a non‐dispersive way, without the intervention of mechanical stirrers or ultrasound devices. An increase in contact area between phases enhances reaction rate while the absence of small, dispersed droplets of one phase into the other diminishes the settling time at the end of the reaction. In this study variations on the concentration of catalyst (sodium hydroxide), flow rate of palm oil and normalized length of the reactor (L/Lmax) were explored, keeping constant both the methanol to oil molar ratio and the temperature of the reaction (6:1 and 60 °C). The best experimental results with a reactor of 1.26 m (L/Lmax = 1.0) showed a conversion of palm oil of 97.5% and a yield of methyl esters of 92.2% of the theoretical yield, when the mass flow rate and the residence time of the palm oil were 9.0 g min−1 and 5.0 min, respectively. To determine the mean residence time and the degree of axial mixing in the reactor, a residence time distribution (RTD) study was performed using a step‐function input. The dispersion model appears to fit well the RTD experimental data.
Effect of Alkyl Chain Unsaturation on Methyl Ester Thermo‐Oxidative Decomposition and Residue Formation
Authors: Pillar Rachel , Ginic‐Markovic Milena , Clarke Stephen , Matisons Janis
Published: February 2009

The formation of persistent residues by esters used in sheet metal‐working lubricant formulations interferes with metal surface cleanliness and impairs the integrity of subsequent surface coatings. Understanding the thermal decomposition and residue formation properties of esters is therefore crucial to minimising residue formation during furnace‐based cleaning and will aid in the improvement of coated metal products such as galvanised steel. The thermo‐oxidative decomposition profiles of four different methyl esters were studied by Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Pressure Differential Scanning Calorimetry (PDSC). Chemical characterisation of residues remaining at different stages during the thermo‐oxidative decomposition process was achieved by infrared spectroscopic analysis of TGA residue samples. Relationships between ester alkyl chain unsaturation levels and the amount/chemical nature of residue present at high temperature (500 °C) were assessed. In the presence of oxygen, polyunsaturated esters decomposed to leave significantly greater amounts of thermally‐stable residue, comprising of metal carboxylate and non‐volatile oxygenated compounds, than more saturated esters. Given that the formation of analogous residues by more complex esters used in sheet metal‐working lubricants may give rise to metal surface coating defects, the results of this study suggest that polyunsaturated esters should be avoided in lubricant formulations where preventing residue formation is of paramount importance.
Review Article: Putting Polarization in Perspective
Authors: Hetherington Marc J.
Published: February 2009

Scholarly research has demonstrated rather conclusively that American political elites have undergone a marked partisan polarization over the past thirty years. There is less agreement, however, as to whether the American electorate is polarized. This review article evaluates the evidence, causes and consequences of polarization on both the elite and mass levels. A marked difference between the two is found. Elites are polarized by almost any definition, although this state of affairs is quite common historically. In contrast, mass attitudes are now better sorted by party, but generally not polarized. While it is unclear whether this potentially troubling disconnect between centrist mass attitudes and extreme elite preferences has negative policy consequences, it appears that the super-majoritarian nature of the US Senate serves as a bulwark against policy outcomes that are more ideologically extreme than the public would prefer. Moreover, a public more centrist than those who represent it has also at times exerted a moderating influence on recent policies.
Political Decentralization and Inflation: Sub-National Evidence from China
Authors: Huang Yasheng , Sheng Yumin
Published: February 2009

One possible political determinant of macroeconomic instability scholars have explored at length is decentralization, but cross-national research measuring political decentralization in terms of constitutional federalism has produced mixed evidence regarding its effects on inflation. Conceptualizing political decentralization in terms of governing political party decentralization but acknowledging the challenges of cross-national data collection, the authors suggest the utility of a sub-national approach by studying one country under single-party rule. Drawing on provincial-level cross-section time-series data, they find that political decentralization measured as the inverse of central government political control, via the ruling party, over the different provincial governments is positively correlated with provincial inflation in China during 1978–97. The finding is robust to alternative specifications, expanded year coverage and Granger causality tests.
An algorithmic model for constructing a linkage and linkage disequilibrium map in outcrossing plant populations
Authors: LI JIAHAN , LI QIN , HOU WEI , HAN KUN , LI YAO , WU SONG , LI YANCHUN , WU RONGLING
Published: February 2009

A linkage–linkage disequilibrium map that describes the pattern and extent of linkage dis-equilibrium (LD) decay with genomic distance has now emerged as a viable tool to unravel the genetic structure of population differentiation and fine-map genes for complex traits. The prerequisite for constructing such a map is the simultaneous estimation of the linkage and LD between different loci. Here, we develop a computational algorithm for simultaneously estimating the recombination fraction and LD in a natural outcrossing population with multilocus marker data, which are often estimated separately in most molecular genetic studies. The algorithm is founded on a commonly used progeny test with open-pollinated offspring sampled from a natural population. The information about LD is reflected in the co-segregation of alleles at different loci among parents in the population. Open mating of parents will reveal the genetic linkage of alleles during meiosis. The algorithm was constructed within the polynomial-based mixture framework and implemented with the Expectation–Maximization (EM) algorithm. The by-product of the derivation of this algorithm is the estimation of outcrossing rate, a parameter useful to explore the genetic diversity of the population. We performed computer simulation to investigate the influences of different sampling strategies and different values of parameters on parameter estimation. By providing a number of testable hypotheses about population genetic parameters, this algorithmic model will open a broad gateway to understand the genetic structure and dynamics of an outcrossing population under natural selection.
Mapping QTL for multiple traits using Bayesian statistics
Authors: XU CHENWU , WANG XUEFENG , LI ZHIKANG , XU SHIZHONG
Published: February 2009

The value of a new crop species is usually judged by the overall performance of multiple traits. Therefore, in most quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping experiments, researchers tend to collect phenotypic records for multiple traits. Some traits may vary continuously and others may vary in a discrete fashion. Although mapping QTLs jointly for multiple traits is more efficient than mapping QTLs separately for individual traits, the latter is still commonly practised in QTL mapping. This is primarily due to the lack of efficient statistical methods and computer software packages to implement the methods. Mapping multiple QTLs simultaneously in a single multivariate model has not been available, especially when categorical traits are involved. In the present study, we developed a Bayesian method to map QTLs of the entire genome for multiple traits with continuous, discrete or both types of phenotypic distribution. Instead of using the reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) for model selection, we adopt a parameter shrinkage approach to estimate the genetic effects of all marker intervals. We demonstrate the method by analysing a set of simulated data with both continuous and discrete traits. We also apply the method to mapping QTLs responsible for multiple disease resistances to the blast fungus of rice. A computer program written in SAS/IML that implements the method is freely available, on request, to academic researchers.
Increased accuracy of artificial selection by using the realized relationship matrix
Authors: HAYES B. J. , VISSCHER P. M. , GODDARD M. E.
Published: February 2009

Dense marker genotypes allow the construction of the realized relationship matrix between individuals, with elements the realized proportion of the genome that is identical by descent (IBD) between pairs of individuals. In this paper, we demonstrate that by replacing the average relationship matrix derived from pedigree with the realized relationship matrix in best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) of breeding values, the accuracy of the breeding values can be substantially increased, especially for individuals with no phenotype of their own. We further demonstrate that this method of predicting breeding values is exactly equivalent to the genomic selection methodology where the effects of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) contributing to variation in the trait are assumed to be normally distributed. The accuracy of breeding values predicted using the realized relationship matrix in the BLUP equations can be deterministically predicted for known family relationships, for example half sibs. The deterministic method uses the effective number of independently segregating loci controlling the phenotype that depends on the type of family relationship and the length of the genome. The accuracy of predicted breeding values depends on this number of effective loci, the family relationship and the number of phenotypic records. The deterministic prediction demonstrates that the accuracy of breeding values can approach unity if enough relatives are genotyped and phenotyped. For example, when 1000 full sibs per family were genotyped and phenotyped, and the heritability of the trait was 0·5, the reliability of predicted genomic breeding values (GEBVs) for individuals in the same full sib family without phenotypes was 0·82. These results were verified by simulation. A deterministic prediction was also derived for random mating populations, where the effective population size is the key parameter determining the effective number of independently segregating loci. If the effective population size is large, a very large number of individuals must be genotyped and phenotyped in order to accurately predict breeding values for unphenotyped individuals from the same population. If the heritability of the trait is 0·3, andNe=1000, approximately 5750 individuals with genotypes and phenotypes are required in order to predict GEBVs of un-phenotyped individuals in the same population with an accuracy of 0·7.
The Name ‘Merovingian’ and the Dating of Beowulf
Authors: Goffart Walter
Published: February 2009

Reviving an argument of 1849, Tom Shippey has lately maintained that the dynasty name ‘Merovingian’ in Beowulf furnishes a firm criterion for attributing an early date to the poem. He contends, using an electronic database, that a deliberate damnatio memoriae caused the name ‘Merovingian’ to fade soon after the dynasty was deposed (751); its occurrence is therefore a terminus ad quem. This article shows that the Carolingians took pains to affirm continuity with their predecessors. The first Frankish dynasty was not condemned to oblivion. Its name was well known in the ninth century and occurs repeatedly in later historiography.
Poisoned places: the Avernian tradition in Old English poetry
Authors: Anlezark Daniel
Published: February 2009

Scholars have long disputed whether or not Beowulf reflects the influence of Classical Latin literature. This essay examines the motif of the ‘poisoned place’ present in a range of texts known to the Anglo-Saxons, most famously represented by Avernus in the Aeneid. While Grendel's mere presents the best-known poisonous locale in Old English poetry, another is found in the dense and enigmatic poem Solomon and Saturn II. The relationship between these poems is discussed beside a consideration of the possibility that their use of the ‘Avernian tradition’ points to the influence of Latin epic on their Anglo-Saxon authors.
Ethnographic interpretations of parent-child discourse in Huli
Authors: Goldman Laurence Richard
Published: February 2009

This paper seeks to account for a culturally patterned set of analogic renamings found in Huli baby talk, nursery rhymes and children's verbal games. These socialization activities evidence a marked concern with body motifs and appellations. In accordance with ethnographic paradigms of explanation, the frame of reference is broadened to include consideration of inter-adult behaviour involving ‘talk about the body’ to assess what is being learnt from such interactions as well as what communicative intents are encoded. The argument is developed that in addition to the significance of these play routines in sensitizing the child to cultural rules about speaking, these ludic forms also appear implicated in both an evolutionary and logico-operational sense in the conventional anatomical nomenclature.
Linguistic factors in children's understanding of idioms
Authors: Gibbs Raymond W.
Published: February 2009

This study examined the effect of two linguistic factors on children's understanding of idioms. Kindergarten, first, third and fourth graders listened to idiomatic expressions either alone or at the end of short story contexts. Their task was to explain verbally the intended meanings of these idioms and then to choose the correct idiomatic interpretations of these phrases. The results showed that in the presence of supporting context younger children (kindergarten and first graders) understood idioms that were syntactically frozen (e.g.turn back the clock) better than they did idioms which can be seen in a variety of syntactic forms (e.g.lay down the law). Older children (third and fourth graders) comprehended both kinds of idiom equally well. Moreover, with context, children at all grade levels were better at explaining the figurative meanings of idioms whose literal and idiomatic interpretations were closely related (e.g.hold your tongues) than they were at explaining idioms whose literal and figurative meanings were not closely related (e.g.beat around the bush). Without context there were few significant differences noted in children's understanding of the different kinds of idiom. The significance of these findings for developmental models of idiom comprehension is discussed.
Sentence comprehension in Hungarian-Russian bilingual and monolingual preschool children
Authors: Pléh Csaba , Jarovinskij Alexandr , Balajan Alexandr
Published: February 2009

This paper's authors examine the interpretation of transitive sentences with varying word orders /SVO, OVS, SOV, OSV/. The subjects were Hungarian-Russian bilingual preschool children and their Hungarian and Russian monolingual peers. Bever's ‘first noun as agent’ strategy – as indicated by OVS and OSV errors – appears to be weaker in the bilinguals. An explanation for this is proposed in terms of Slobin's ‘attention to the end of words’ factor. The mistaken identification of sentence-initial objects as agents depends on case marking allomorphy. Bilinguals, in general, appear to pay more attention to allomorphy and thus make fewer interpretation errors than their monolingual peers.
Playing with pronouns in French maternal speech to prelingual infants
Authors: Rabain-Jamin Jacqueline , Sabeau-Jouannet Emilie
Published: February 2009

Conventional and displaced uses of pronouns in maternal speech to refer to the baby were investigated in a developmental study of six mother—infant dyads using video-recordings of their free play at three, seven and ten months. These pronominal uses were analysed in a number of semantic contexts to determine how interactive situations influence the use of different types of pronouns. Results show that third- and first-person pronouns occur significantly more often in the semantic context of affect-oriented activities than in the semantic context of goal-directed activities. For second-person pronouns the results are the opposite. The contrast found between these two contexts, i.e. where the child is presented as the agent of a meaningful activity or not, shows how the place constructed for the baby as an interlocutor in maternal speech evolves with age. This study underlines the part the third person plays with its descriptive value in the acquisition of the system of pronouns.
The validity of a parent report instrument of child language at twenty months
Authors: Dale Philip S. , Bates Elizabeth , Reznick J. Steven , Morisset Colleen
Published: February 2009

When carefully assessed and analysed, parent report can provide a valuable overall evaluation of children's language at 20 months. Norming information and validity coefficients are presented here for a vocabulary checklist assessment included in the Early Language Inventory. Normative data are provided for fullterm, preterm, and precocious samples, including selected vocabulatory subsets that are indicative of early language learning style. The vocabulary checklist has substantial validity as indexed by correlations with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development and particularly with a language subscale derived from that test.
The acquisition of polysynthesis
Authors: Mithun Marianne
Published: February 2009

Polysynthetic languages can present special extraction puzzles to children, due to the length of their words. A number of hypotheses concerning children's strategies for acquiring morphology, originally proposed on the basis of their approaches to somewhat simpler systems, are confirmed by observations of five children acquiring Mohawk. Among the Mohawk children, the earliest segmentation of words was phonological rather than morphological: stressed syllables, usually penultimate or antepenultimate, were extracted first. Ultimate syllables were then added, confirming the salience of the ends of words. During this time, distinctions expressed by adults in affixes were either omitted or expressed analytically. Acquisition then moved leftward by syllables. When most utterances were long enough to include pronominal prefixes as well as roots, morphological structure was apparently discovered. It is not surprising that the pronouns should trigger this awareness, since they are frequent, appearing with every verb and most nouns, they are functional, and they are semantically transparent. From this point on, the children acquired affixes primarily according to their utility and semantic transparency rather than their phonological shape or position.
On children's uses of from, by and with in oblique noun phrases
Authors: Clark Eve V. , Carpenter Kathie L.
Published: February 2009

This study was designed to follow up children's early spontaneous uses of from to mark oblique agents by giving 40 children (aged 2; 5–6; 1), and 10 adults, grammatical and ungrammatical sentences containing from, with, and by to imitate and to repair. As predicted, children's imitations and repairs showed that (a) 2–year-olds produce from for agents, and with for instruments in imitation; and (b) as children get older, they shift to by for agents in their repairs, and keep from to mark locative sources. These findings support the hypothesis that when children first try to express oblique agents, before acquisition of conventional by, they choose from for this purpose because agents, as instigators of actions, are conceived of as the source of the action and its result.
Nursery rhymes, phonological skills and reading
Authors: Bryant P. E. , Bradley L. , Maclean M. , Crossland J.
Published: February 2009

Nursery rhymes are an almost universal part of young English-speaking children's lives. We have already established that there are strong links between children's early knowledge of nursery rhymes at 3;3 and their developing phonological skills over the next year and a quarter. Since such skills are known to be related to children's success in learning to read, this result suggests the hypothesis that acquaintance with nursery rhymes might also affect children's reading. We now report longitudinal data from a group of 64 children from the age of 3;4 to 6;3 which support this hypothesis. There is a strong relation between early knowledge of nursery rhymes and success in reading and spelling over the next three years even after differences in social background, I.Q and the children's phonological skills at the start of the project are taken into account. This raises the question of how nursery rhymes have such an effect. Our answer is that knowledge of nursery rhymes enhances children's phonological sensitivity which in turn helps them to learn to read. This paper presents further analyses which support the idea of this path from nursery rhymes to reading. Nursery rhymes are related to the child's subsequent sensitivity to rhyme and phonemes. Moreover the connection between knowledge of nursery rhymes and reading and spelling ability disappears when controls are made for differences in these subsequent phonological skills.
Pitch alterations in British motherese: some preliminary acoustic data
Authors: Shute Brenda , Wheldall Kevin
Published: February 2009

Speech samples from eight British female adults addressing young children and another adult were analysed in terms of vocal pitch. Increases in vocal pitch when addressing young children were observed but were smaller than the increases noted by North American researchers, and variability across speakers was marked. Some adults only slightly raised their vocal pitch to young children. Pitch increases were generally more marked for mean as against modal pitch measures, and for free speech as against reading aloud conditions.
Genetic factors in the ontogeny of spoken language: evidence from monozygotic and dizygotic twins
Authors: Locke John L. , Mather Patricia L.
Published: February 2009

Recent controversy about the innateness of language has awakened interest in the genetic basis of linguistic development. In this study, we analysed more extensively data from Mather & Black (1984).in order to test the hypothesis that the speech articulation of monozygotic (MZ) twins would be qualitatively more similar than that of age- and sex-matched dizygotic (DZ) twins. Analyses revealed that 4–year-old MZ twin pairs were significantly more likely to misproduce the same sounds on an articulation test than were DZ twin pairs, and that DZ twins were no more likely to share errors than were children who were both genetically and environmentally unrelated. There was no evidence that MZ twins made more similar errors than DZ twins, and indeed it was difficult to make this determination since only broad categories of error (substitution, distortion, omission) were available for analysis. The greater amount of genetic material shared by MZ twins, and the presumably more similar morphology of their speech mechanisms, may have caused certain sound patterns to be of more nearly equal difficulty for both members of a MZ pair. However, these findings need to be confirmed with phonetically more detailed analyses.
Control and coreference in early child language
Authors: Hsu Jennifer Ryan , Cairns Helen Smith , Eisenberg Sarita , Schlisselberg Gloria
Published: February 2009

This study investigated the relationship between control and coreference using an act-out task involving 81 children ranging in age from 3;1 to 8;0 and eight adults ranging in age from 30 to 55. The results replicated previous findings in revealing five developmental stages in children's interpretation of PRO, an empty pronominal element. A significant relationship was observed in the patterns of children's interpretation of forwards sentences containing PRO and those containing overt pronouns. However, there was no relationship in the development of restrictions on control and restrictions on coreference.
Cross-linguistic studies of directionality in first language acquisition: the Japanese data – a response to O'Grady, Suzuki-Wei & Cho 1986
Authors: Lust Barbara , Mazuka Reiko
Published: February 2009

Elsewhere we have argued on the basis of cross linguistic studies of directionality effects on anaphora in child language, that there is no universal ‘forward directionality preference (FDP)’; rather such a preference is linked to languages with specific grammatical properties. Although such a preference has been attested in English acquisition, matched experimental designs in Japanese, Chinese and Sinhalese, for example, do not show this effect. In this paper we argue that current attempts to show that forward directionality effects can also be induced in Japanese acquisition do not succeed in supporting the FDP. Specifics of the design of stimulus sentences in these experiments vary previous cross-linguistic designs so as to favour forward directionality on independent grounds, and confound cross linguistic comparisons. They in fact support a universal structure dependence in children's hypotheses about directionality of anaphora’.
Contrast: a semantic constraint?
Authors: Gathercole Virginia C.
Published: February 2009

This article challenges the position of Clark (1988) with regard to Contrast. The evidence cited in support of this theory from adult languages is far from clear, and the evidence coming from child language admits of alternative explanations. In addition, the ‘logic’ of assuming Contrast leads to insurmountable difficulties in the acquisition of irregular forms and allomorphs. An alternative to Contrast is proposed. This draws on the drive towards the adult system, the development of non-linguistic concepts, the acquisition of language in context, and the use of the Co-operative Principle by participants in conversational exchanges to account for those features of language and language acquisition that Contrast was designed to explain.
Discourse and the acquisition of grammatical morphemes
Authors: Farrar Michael Jeffrey
Published: February 2009

Adult recasts of child utterances have been shown to be related in a general way to the child's acquisition of syntactic structures. The current study had two aims. The first aim was to determine which feature(s) of recasts (i.e. reformulation, expansion, topic continuation, or reply) was responsible for facilitating language acquisition by comparing them to other maternal discourse models that were systematically defined by these properties. The second aim was to investigate this relation more specifically by relating adult discourse models of specific grammatical morphemes to the child's acquisition of those same morphemes. Again, recasts were of particular interest. Twelve mother-child dyads were videorecorded during one hour of naturalistic interaction when the children were 1;10 and 2;4. Results indicated that maternal recasts of specific morphemes were related to the acquisition of those same grammatical morphemes during certain developmental periods, whereas other grammatical morphemes were facilitated by expansions and topic continuations. These results are discussed in terms of the processes responsible for these effects.
The development of definitional skill
Authors: Snow Catherine E.
Published: February 2009

Giving good definitions requires controlling both word meaning and definitional form. Definitions from 137 second to fifth graders (i.e. aged seven to eleven) were scored to reflect conformity to the classic Aristotelian form and quality of information provided. Comparisons among children with different backgrounds indicated that school exposure to English was strongly related to per cent formal definitions given and their quality. 63 children were also tested in French, their foreign language. Performance in French was lower than in English; exposure to French at home related to the amount of information the children provided in informal definitions, not to quality of formal definitions. The results suggest that performance on definitions is most strongly affected by opportunities to practise the required form.
Input evidence regarding the semantic bootstrapping hypothesis
Authors: Rondal Jean A. , Cession Anne
Published: February 2009

The input language addressed to 18 language-learning children (MLU 1.00–3.00) was analysed so as to assess the quality of the semanticsyntactic correspondence posited by the semantic bootstrapping hypothesis. The correspondence appears to be quite satisfactory with little variation from the lower to the higher MLUs. All the persons and things referred to in the corpora were labelled by the mothers using nouns. All the actions referred to were labelled using verbs. Most of the attributive information was conveyed by adjectives. Spatial information was expressed through the use of spatial prepositions. As to the functional categories, all agents of actions and causes of events were encoded as subjects of sentences. All patients, themes, sources, goals, locations, and instruments were encoded as objects of sentences (either direct or oblique). This good semantic-syntactic correspondence may make the child's construction of grammatical categories easier.
Development of categorical identification of native and non-native bilabial stops: infants, children and adults
Authors: Burnham Denis K. , Earnshaw Lynda J. , Clark John E.
Published: February 2009

Using an infant speech identification (ISI) procedure, English language environment infants, two- and six-year-old children, and adults were tested for their identification of sounds on a native (voiced/voiceless bilabial stop) and a non-native (prevoiced/voiced bilabial stop) speech continuum. Categorical perception of the two contrasts diverged as a function of age, increasing for the native contrast and decreasing for the non-native between two and six years. In Experiment 2, subjects of the same four ages were tested for their identification of a continuum of harmonic tones varying in pitch. Comparison of the results of Experiment i with the essentially continuous perception of this pitch continuum supports the view that the perception of the native contrast becomes more categorical with age, while perception of the non-native contrast becomes less categorical, especially at six years. Experiment 3, in which adults were tested on the three continua with a multi-trial open set procedure, demonstrated that results with the ISI procedure in Experiments 1 and 2 are comparable to results with more traditional methods. The results of the three experiments are discussed in terms of the role of specific linguistic experience in the development of categorical speech perception.
Unusual phonological patterns and their underlying representations: a case study
Authors: Leonard Laurence B. , Mcgregor Karla K.
Published: February 2009

An unusual phonological pattern exhibited by a child aged 2;9 is described. The pattern involved the production of word-final strident continuants in words whose adult forms contain these features in initial, rather than final position (e.g. [ops] for soap). The data are interpreted as compatible with models of child phonology that permit direct mapping of features to final position.
When do children avoid backwards coreference?
Authors: Hsu Jennifer Ryan , Cairns Helen Smith , Eisenberg Sarita , Schlisselberg Gloria
Published: February 2009

This study investigated the claim that very young children avoid backwards coreference in their interpretation of sentences containing pronouns. Eighty-one children ranging in age from 3;1 to 8;0 and eight adults acted out four types of pronominal sentences. Cross-sectional data and individual response patterns reveal that children initially, prefer internal coreference even when such a response is disallowed for structural reasons. Avoidance of backwards coreference appears to be a late developing phenomenon characteristic of six-year-olds. Adult response patterns, which are manifested by some very young children, emerge as the dominant pattern by age seven.
Representational demands in mothers' talk to preschool children in two contexts: picture book reading and a modelling task
Authors: Sorsby Angela J. , Martlew Margaret
Published: February 2009

Shared book reading is considered to be an influential factor in language and literacy development and has been associated with more complex and demanding forms of tutorial language use. The present study seeks to examine mothers' discourse in joint picture book reading in terms of the level of representational demand which it places on the child, that is the extent to which it requires the child to engage in abstract thought. This was compared with the language used in another interactive, but more product oriented task, modelling a clown using play-doh. Twenty-four mother child dyads (in which the mean age of the children was 4;2) were videotaped while engaged on these tasks and the conversation was analysed for representational demand (levels of abstraction), interactive features and communicative function. The mother's conversation was found to be at a higher level of abstraction in reading than in play-doh modelling. The accuracy of child responses to high level requests for information was superior for reading, while responses to low level requests were similar in both situations. The interactive categories were more utterance-based and less attention-based than in the modelling task.
A longitudinal analysis of young children's cohesion and noun specification in narratives
Authors: Peterson Carole , Dodsworth Pamela
Published: February 2009

The early production of nine cohesive devices during narration about personal experience was examined in an 18-month longitudinal study of 10 children between approximately age 2;0 and 3;6. The specification of noun phrases and types of noun errors were also explored. The number of cohesive ties increased with both age and MLU, due to increased pronominal reference and conjunctions (while clausal and verbal ellipsis decreased). Specific cohesive devices also were acquired at different MLU levels. Most noun phrases were non-problematic and errors declined with increasing age and MLU; specifically, noun omissions declined. However, when new nouns were introduced, approximately one out of five were ambiguous throughout the study. Thus, children's narratives become more comprehensible with age as cohesive links increase and noun errors decrease, but at 3;6 children are still having difficulty properly managing the introduction of novel nouns.
Children's competence in the specialized register of sportscasting
Authors: Hoyle Susan M.
Published: February 2009

This study reports on four school-age boys' use of the specialized register of sportscasting as performed both spontaneously and when elicited by the researcher, and compares the boys' production of formal register-marking features to adult usage. Like the commentary of professional sportscasters, the boys' commentating is characterized by heavy use of simple-present action verbs, use of constructions lacking elements that are ordinarily grammatically required (the subject pronoun he, an auxiliary verb, or a main verb), and (in the elicited version) frequent occurrence of passives. The boys invest the most ‘ungram-matical’ utterance types (those lacking finite verbs) with a function that is not clearly present in adult sportscasting discourse, that of pointing forward in the discourse.
Intonational differences between the reduplicative babbling of French- and English-learning infants
Authors: Whalen D. H. , Levitt Andrea G. , Wang Qi
Published: February 2009

The two- and three-syllable reduplicative babbling of five French-learning and five English-learning infants (0;5 to 1; 1) was examined in two ways for intonational differences. The first measure was a categorization into one of five categories (RISING, FALLING, RISE-FALL, FALL-RISE, LEVEL) by expert listeners. The second was the fundamental frequency (F0) from the early, middle and late portion of each syllable. Both measures showed significant differences between the two language groups. 65% of the utterances from both groups were classified as either rising of falling. For the French children, these were divided equally into the rising and the falling categories, while 75% of those utterances for the English children were judged to have falling intonation. Proportions of the other three categories were not significantly different by language environment. In both languages, though, three-syllable utterances were more likely to have a complex contour than two-syllable ones. Analysis of the F0patterns confirmed the perceptual assessment. Several aspects of the target languages help explain these intonational differences in prelinguistic babbling.
The mosaic acquisition of grammatical relations
Authors: Rispoli Matthew
Published: February 2009

The view that grammatical relations have substantial essence, designated as ‘subject’ or ‘object’ has difficulty in accounting for the variety of naturally acquirable grammatical relations. The acquisition of grammatical relations is examined from a theoretical framework, ROLE AND REFERENCE GRAMMAR, in which grammatical relations are decomposed into two separate types of structure: logical (semantic) structure and information (pragmatic) structure. The acquisition of grammatical relations from four languages is compared: (1) the definite accusative suffix and pragmatically motivated word order of Turkish; (2) Kaluli verb agreement, case and focus marking postpositions, and pragmatically motivated word order; (3) Hungarian definite and indefinite verb conjunction; and (4) Italian participial agreement and anaphoric, accusative case pronouns. Two conditions on structures are found to cause difficulty: the neutralization of a semantic or pragmatic distinction by interfering structures (e.g. Kaluli and Italian), and global case marking which forces the child to discover relevant semantic characteristics of both the actor and the undergoer (e.g. Hungarian and Kaluli). Structures that encode semantic or pragmatic distinctions independently are more easily acquired (e.g. Turkish). Piecing together discrete structures in a mosaic fashion, the child can acquire the great variety of grammatical relations that exist in human languages.
Mean length of utterance and the acquisition of Irish
Authors: Hickey Tina
Published: February 2009

One of the most widely used indices of language development is a measure of utterance length in morphemes (MLUm). This study examines the applicability of MLUm to the acquisition of Irish. MLUm was calculated for data from Cian, aged 1;11–3;0. Even when an attempt was made to ‘assume the maximum’ by counting all possible morphemes, the correlation between a morpheme MLU (MLUm) and a word count MLU (MLUw) was very high (0·99). This points to MLUw being as effective a measure of Irish development as MLUm, as well as being easier to apply and more reliable. MLUw was calculated for the two younger children in the study (Eibhlís 1;4–2;1 and Eoin 1;10–2;6). An examination of the relationship between the three children's MLUw values and their grammatical complexity as measured on ILARSP (the Irish adaptation of LARSP) indicates that MLUw is a useful preliminary index for early development in Irish. However, further data are necessary to check whether MLUw loses its predictive relationship with grammatical complexity after a certain point. The study emphasizes the caution necessary in applying MLU to languages whose acquisition has not hitherto been studied, and underlines the role of MLU as a preliminary measure, which must not be overinterpreted.
‘Can I put – I want a slippers to put on’: young children's development of request forms in a code-switching environment
Authors: Youssef Valerie
Published: February 2009

This paper concerns the development of semi-modal want/want to, and modals may, can and could in two Trinidadian children, whose Verb Phrase development was studied in naturalistic settings, between the ages of 2;3 and 4;1, and 2;4 and 4;9. The similarities and differences in development between the two are important for underlining a number of key factors in the acquisition process. Accepting the salience of requests/demands in early child language, the study draws attention to the child's propensity for using the means most readily available to him/her in the input, for expression of this function. Additionally, there is evidence of the child's ability to make stylistic discriminations at a very early age and of the propensity for making semantic distinctions among forms. The study indicates that work on the development of grammatical features is incomplete without consideration of sociolinguistic aspects of usage as integral to grammatical acquisition from the outset.
Simultaneity in children's narratives: the case of when, while and as
Authors: Silva Marilyn N.
Published: February 2009

This study examines the use of the co-temporal connectives when, while and as in the elicited narratives of 71 children between 4;10 and 11;11. A group of 26 adults provided comparison data. Subjects were asked to ‘tell a story’ about each of three sets of story pictures. Analysis of the adult data confirmed a preference for preposed over postposed when clauses and supported the notion of a continuum of simultaneity for when, while and as. The oldest children (like the adults) were more likely to prepose when clauses than were younger children, a finding which suggests that with increasing awareness of the information needs of the listener, children begin to use preposed adverbial clauses as information ‘guideposts’. Surprisingly, however, children in general were far more likely than adults to use durative predicates with when clauses and did not use co-temporal as – substituting when or while in those contexts in which as appeared in the adult protocols. These two findings are shown to be connected, since aspect in the adult data is differentially distributed with respect to the three connectives. It is hypothesized that for narrative purposes children acquire when before while and while before as, in the order of increasing specificity and constraint, with the determining factor being a convergence of syntax, semantics and information flow.
Pitch characteristics of Japanese maternal speech to infants
Authors: Masataka Nobuo
Published: February 2009

The fundamental frequency F0 patterns of maternal speech addressed to infants aged 0;3–0;4 were measured quantitatively. Speech samples were recorded when six Japanese-speaking mothers addressed an adult and their own infants. Japanese mothers speaking to adults use a relatively restricted F0 range, concentrated around the mother's F0, which tends to be near the low end of the total range used. These acoustic characteristics are not altered substantially when these same women speak to their infants in initial utterances to attract the infants' attention. If such attempts are unsuccessful, however, they are likely to make more exaggerated utterances, in which F0 shifts upward and the frequency range is significantly increased. Moreover, only when acoustic characteristics of maternal speech to infants are exaggerated, can the type of F0 contour of the infant's subsequent response be predicted to a significant extent from the mother's preceding utterance.
Epistemic modality in French children's discourse:to be sureornot to be sure?
Authors: Bassano Dominique , Hickmann Maya , Champaud Christian
Published: February 2009

This study focuses on the development of epistemic modality, with particular attention to how French children evaluate the conditions of use for modal expressions marking certainty and uncertainty. Sixty children aged four, six and eight were shown films involving verbal interactions in which a target speaker accused another of having performed a deed. The analysis examine children's responses during a subsequent interview in which they were asked to attribute an epistemic attitude of certainty/uncertainty to the target speaker as a function of three factors: (a) whether he had witnessed the deed; (b) whether his accusation was modalized by the verbcroire(‘think/believe’); and (c) whether the accusation was true or false. The results show that the four-and six-year-olds attribute certainty more often than the eight-year-olds. This dissymmetry is accompanied by a developmental progression in children's conceptions of these modal categories, which change from a ‘realistic’ conception (mainly based on truth/falsity) at four years to an increasingly metalinguistic and relativized conception thereafter.