Root lexical features and inflectional marking of tense in Proto-Indo-European

2009 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 505-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNAMARIA BARTOLOTTA
Keyword(s):  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Verbal System ◽  
Lexical Aspect ◽  
Lexical Feature ◽  
General Linguistic ◽  
Linguistic Approaches ◽  
Shed Light

This paper examines early inflectional morphology related to the tense-aspect system of Proto-Indo-European. It will be argued that historical linguistics can shed light on the long-standing debate over the emergence of tense-aspect morphology in language acquisition. The dispute over this issue is well-known; it has been pursued mostly by scholars following various general linguistic approaches, from typology to acquisition, but also by historical linguists and Indo-Europeanists, who have long debated about the precedence of aspect or tense from both a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. However, so far Indo-Europeanists have rarely confronted their results in a successful way with recent research in other fields such as acquisition or neurolinguistics. The aim of this paper is to put forward evidence from the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European verbal system concerning the prominent role of root lexical aspect features in the emergence of grammatical marking of tense in the proto-language. More precisely, by means of a comparison between the residual archaic verbal forms of theinjunctivein Vedic Sanskrit and the corresponding augmentless preterites in Homeric Greek, it will be argued that the [±telic] lexical feature of the inherited verbal root is responsible for a non-random distribution of past tense inflected forms in an earlier verbal paradigm.

scholarly journals Testing the Semantic Homogeneity Constraint

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tore Nesset ◽  
Anastasia Makarova
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Semantic Factor ◽  
Homogeneous Domains ◽  
General Linguistics ◽  
Shed Light

Although it has been widely assumed in historical linguistics that semantics plays a crucial role in analogical change, it is difficult to pinpoint the contribution of the semantic factor, since meaning and form work closely together in bringing about language change. The purpose of the present article is to shed light on the issue by means of two case studies from Russian, which enable us to isolate the role of semantics. The hypothesis we test is that analogical change is restricted to semantically homogeneous domains. We call this the Semantic Homogeneity Constraint. Two phenomena from Russian conjugation are explored: suffix shift and NU-drop. Although they seem parallel, analogical change occurs in the former, but not in the latter. It is argued that this is because the verbs involved in suffix shift constitute a semantically homogeneous domain, within which analogical change can take place. By contrast, NU-verbs are semantically diverse, and these semantic differences create boundaries which block analogical change. The findings have implications both for Russian and general linguistics. While suffix shift and NU-drop are well-known phenomena in Russian conjugation, they have not been juxtaposed and compared before. Our comparison provides new insights about the differences and similarities of the two phenomena. From the perspective of historical linguistics, the present article contributes to the theory of analogy, insofar as we provide empirical evidence for the Semantic Homogeneity Constraint, which places restrictions on semantic domains where analogical change can take place.

scholarly journals Malayalam Morphosyntax: Inflectional Features and their Acquisition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gayathri Krishnan
Keyword(s):  
Past Tense ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
The Past ◽  
Lexical Feature ◽  
Marker Selection ◽  
Dative Subject ◽  
Empirical Tests ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Case Number ◽  
Selection Of

Malayalam, which belongs to the South-Dravidian language family, is an agglutinative language with rich inflectional morphology. The aim of the thesis is to analyse the grammar and acquisition of Malayalam verbal inflections (tense, aspect and mood) and nominal inflections (case, number, and gender). Within the larger discussion of inflectional morphology and its acquisition, particular attention is paid to two complex morphological processes, a) the past tense formation of verbs and b) case assignment of subjects and objects.In particular, the thesis will show the following: a) that the past tense marker selection is determined by different grammatical principles in underived and derived stems; specifically, phonotactics in the former and the lexical feature of transitivity in the latter; b) that the dative nominals of a class of predicates (variously labelled experiencer or dative subject or psych predicates) are in fact subjects using an array of empirical tests involving binding, control, accusative marking, and predicate alternation; and c) that inflections for number and object case rest on lexical features of the noun (stem) and the allomorphy is governed by these featural requirements. In looking at the developing grammar in the two subjects, the thesis will show that Malayalam inflectional grammar has quite direct consequences for the acquisition of inflectional morphology. Specifically, acquisition proceeds unobstructed when the mode of selection is phonological and offers more challenges when the mode of selection is morphological, i.e., when the selection depends on the learning of the lexical or grammatical features of the noun and verb stems.Thus, using the interplay between acquisition and the grammatical description, we establish that in addition to the established factors that guide acquisition, mode of selection of an inflection plays a key role in determining the relative ease/difficulty in the acquisition of inflectional morphology. This follows quite neatly from the fact that children are phonologically competent even before much language is produced and that this module-competence could facilitate the acquisition of morphology. The thesis will argue that this is indeed the case.

scholarly journals Malayalam Morphosyntax: Inflectional Features and their Acquisition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gayathri Krishnan
Keyword(s):  
Past Tense ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
The Past ◽  
Lexical Feature ◽  
Marker Selection ◽  
Dative Subject ◽  
Empirical Tests ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Case Number ◽  
Selection Of

Malayalam, which belongs to the South-Dravidian language family, is an agglutinative language with rich inflectional morphology. The aim of the thesis is to analyse the grammar and acquisition of Malayalam verbal inflections (tense, aspect and mood) and nominal inflections (case, number, and gender). Within the larger discussion of inflectional morphology and its acquisition, particular attention is paid to two complex morphological processes, a) the past tense formation of verbs and b) case assignment of subjects and objects.In particular, the thesis will show the following: a) that the past tense marker selection is determined by different grammatical principles in underived and derived stems; specifically, phonotactics in the former and the lexical feature of transitivity in the latter; b) that the dative nominals of a class of predicates (variously labelled experiencer or dative subject or psych predicates) are in fact subjects using an array of empirical tests involving binding, control, accusative marking, and predicate alternation; and c) that inflections for number and object case rest on lexical features of the noun (stem) and the allomorphy is governed by these featural requirements. In looking at the developing grammar in the two subjects, the thesis will show that Malayalam inflectional grammar has quite direct consequences for the acquisition of inflectional morphology. Specifically, acquisition proceeds unobstructed when the mode of selection is phonological and offers more challenges when the mode of selection is morphological, i.e., when the selection depends on the learning of the lexical or grammatical features of the noun and verb stems.Thus, using the interplay between acquisition and the grammatical description, we establish that in addition to the established factors that guide acquisition, mode of selection of an inflection plays a key role in determining the relative ease/difficulty in the acquisition of inflectional morphology. This follows quite neatly from the fact that children are phonologically competent even before much language is produced and that this module-competence could facilitate the acquisition of morphology. The thesis will argue that this is indeed the case.

scholarly journals The Role of Linguistic Typology, Target Language Proficiency and Prototypes in Learning Aspectual Contrasts in Italian as Additional Language

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 184
Author(s):  
Francesco Vallerossa
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Lexical Aspect ◽  
Oral Retelling ◽  
Advanced Stages ◽  
Selection Of

The study examines how prototypes and typological relationships between the L1, the L2 and the target language (TL) interact with TL proficiency in learning Italian as additional language. Low-proficiency and high-proficiency undergraduate learners of Italian (N = 25) with Swedish as L1 performed an oral retelling story test, aiming to elicit the Italian aspectual contrast perfective-imperfective. Their tense selection was analyzed considering the predicates’ lexical aspect and the learners’ knowledge of a Romance L2, or lack thereof. The findings show that the typological proximity between the L2 and the TL exerts a differential role depending on TL proficiency. Initially, it is beneficial for accelerating the overall emergence of the imperfetto as an aspectual marker. However, the prototype factor and, more specifically, the predicates’ dynamicity influences the selection of past inflectional morphology. At more advanced stages, knowledge of a Romance language helps learners move beyond prototypical associations with the passato prossimo, but it does not seem to influence the use of the imperfetto among high-proficiency learners. These results are discussed in the light of research on the second and additional language learning of aspectual contrasts in Romance languages.

The Role of Zinc in Thyroid Hormones Metabolism

2019 ◽  
Vol 89 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 80-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana Soares Severo ◽  
Jennifer Beatriz Silva Morais ◽  
Taynáh Emannuelle Coelho de Freitas ◽  
Ana Letícia Pereira Andrade ◽  
Mayara Monte Feitosa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thyroid Hormones ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Thyroid Stimulating Hormone ◽  
Zinc Transporters ◽  
Serum Concentrations ◽  
Metabolic Adaptations ◽  
Serum T3 ◽  
Regulatory Effects ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract. Thyroid hormones play an important role in body homeostasis by facilitating metabolism of lipids and glucose, regulating metabolic adaptations, responding to changes in energy intake, and controlling thermogenesis. Proper metabolism and action of these hormones requires the participation of various nutrients. Among them is zinc, whose interaction with thyroid hormones is complex. It is known to regulate both the synthesis and mechanism of action of these hormones. In the present review, we aim to shed light on the regulatory effects of zinc on thyroid hormones. Scientific evidence shows that zinc plays a key role in the metabolism of thyroid hormones, specifically by regulating deiodinases enzymes activity, thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) synthesis, as well as by modulating the structures of essential transcription factors involved in the synthesis of thyroid hormones. Serum concentrations of zinc also appear to influence the levels of serum T3, T4 and TSH. In addition, studies have shown that Zinc transporters (ZnTs) are present in the hypothalamus, pituitary and thyroid, but their functions remain unknown. Therefore, it is important to further investigate the roles of zinc in regulation of thyroid hormones metabolism, and their importance in the treatment of several diseases associated with thyroid gland dysfunction.

The Adult as Foe or Friend?: Childism in Guus Kuijer's Criticism and Fiction

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Joosen
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Children’S Books ◽  
Memorial Award ◽  
Adult Reader ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Selection Of

Compared to the attention that children's literature scholars have paid to the construction of childhood in children's literature and the role of adults as authors, mediators and readers of children's books, few researchers have made a systematic study of adults as characters in children's books. This article analyses the construction of adulthood in a selection of texts by the Dutch author and Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner Guus Kuijer and connects them with Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's recent concept of ‘childism’ – a form of prejudice targeted against children. Whereas Kuijer published a severe critique of adulthood in Het geminachte kind [The despised child] (1980), in his literary works he explores a variety of positions that adults can take towards children, with varying degrees of childist features. Such a systematic and comparative analysis of the way grown-ups are characterised in children's texts helps to shed light on a didactic potential that materialises in different adult subject positions. After all, not only literary and artistic aspects of children's literature may be aimed at the adult reader (as well as the child), but also the didactic aspect of children's books can cross over between different age groups.

Tax evasion in the medical profession An Empirical Study in the General Tax Authority in Iraq

2019 ◽  
Vol 118 (11) ◽  
pp. 80-88
Author(s):  
Ramyar Rzgar Ahmed ◽  
Hawkar Qasim Birdawod ◽  
S. Rabiyathul Basariya
Keyword(s):  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Tax Law ◽  
Degree Of Confidence ◽  
Medical Professions ◽  
Shed Light

The study dealt with tax evasion in the medical profession, where the problem was the existence of many cases of tax evasion, especially tax evasion in the income tax of medical professions. The aim of the study is to try to shed light on the phenomenon of tax evasion and the role of the tax authority in the development of controls and means that reduce the phenomenon of tax evasion. The most important results of the low level of tax awareness and lack of knowledge of the tax law and the unwillingness to read it and the sense of taxpayers unfairness of the tax all lead to an increase in cases of tax evasion and in suggested tightening control and follow-up on the offices of auditors, through the investigation and auditing The reports of certified accountants and the use of computers for this purpose in order to raise the degree of confidence in these reports and bring them closer to the required truth and coordination and cooperation with the Union of Accountants and Auditors and inform them about each case of violations of the auditors and accountants N because of its great influence in the rejection of the organization of the accounts and not to ratify fake accounts lead to show taxpayers accounts on a non-truth in order to tax evasion.

The Baluch, Sunnism and the State in Iran

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane A. Dudoignon
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Social Life ◽  
The State ◽  
First Century ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Oasis Area ◽  
Shed Light

Since 2002, Sunni jihadi groups have been active in Iranian Baluchistan without managing to plunge the region into chaos. This book suggests that a reason for this, besides Tehran’s military responses, has been the quality of Khomeini and Khamenei’s relationship with a network of South-Asia-educated Sunni ulama (mawlawis) originating from the Sarbaz oasis area, in the south of Baluchistan. Educated in the religiously reformist, socially conservative South Asian Deoband School, which puts the madrasa at the centre of social life, the Sarbazi ulama had taken advantage, in Iranian territory, of the eclipse of Baluch tribal might under the Pahlavi monarchy (1925-79). They emerged then as a bulwark against Soviet influence and progressive ideologies, before rallying to Khomeini in 1979. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, they have been playing the role of a rampart against Salafi propaganda and Saudi intrigues. The book shows that, through their alliance with an Iranian Kurdish-born Muslim-Brother movement and through the promotion of a distinct ‘Sunni vote’, they have since the early 2000s contributed towards – and benefitted from – the defence by the Reformist presidents Khatami (1997-2005) and Ruhani (since 2013) of local democracy and of the minorities’ rights. They endeavoured to help, at the same time, preventing the propagation of jihadism and Sunni radicalisation to Iran – at least until the ISIS/Daesh-claimed attacks of June 2017, in Tehran, shed light on the limits of the Islamic Republic’s strategy of reliance on Deobandi ulama and Muslim-Brother preachers in the country’s Sunni-peopled peripheries.

Wetlands Explained

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
William M. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Conservation Policy ◽  
Compact Form ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Conflicts ◽  
Science And Policy ◽  
Ecosystem Science ◽  
Wetland Regulation ◽  
Shed Light

This book brings together in compact form a broad scientific and sociopolitical view of US wetlands. This primer lays out the science and policy considerations to help in navigating this branch of science that is so central to conservation policy, ecosystem science and wetland regulation. It gives explanations of the attributes, functions and values of our wetlands and shows how and why public attitudes toward wetlands have changed, and the political, legal, and social conflicts that have developed from legislation intended to stem the rapid losses of wetlands. The book describes the role of wetland science in facilitating the evolution of a rational and defensible system for regulating wetlands and will shed light on many of the problems and possibilities facing those who quest to protect and conserve our wetlands.

Islam, Gender, and Democracy in Comparative Perspective

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Comparative Literature ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Women's Rights ◽  
Women’S Rights ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Shed Light

This volume reframes the debate around Islam and women’s rights within a broader comparative literature. It examines the complex and contingent historical relationships between religion, secularism, democracy, law, and gender equality. Part I addresses the nexus of religion, law, gender, and democracy through different disciplinary perspectives (sociology, anthropology, political science, law). Part II localizes the implementation of this nexus between law, gender, and democracy, and provides contextualized responses to questions raised in Part I. The contributors explore the situation of Muslim women’s rights vis-à-vis human rights to shed light on gender politics in the modernization of the nation and to ponder over the role of Islam in gender inequality across different Muslim countries.

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