Geographical axis effects in large-scale linguistic distributions

Author(s):  
Tom Güldemann ◽  
Harald Hammarström

Taking up Diamond’s (1999) geographical axis hypothesis regarding the different population histories of continental areas, Güldemann (2008, 2010) proposed that macro-areal aggregations of linguistic features are influenced by geographical factors. This chapter explores this idea by extending it to the whole world in testing whether the way linguistic features assemble over long time spans and large space is influenced by what we call “latitude spread potential” and “longitude spread constraint.” Regarding the former, the authors argue in particular that contact-induced feature distributions as well as genealogically defined language groups with a sufficient geographical extension tend to have a latitudinal orientation. Regarding the latter, the authors provide first results suggesting that linguistic diversity within language families tends to be higher along longitude axes. If replicated by more extensive and diverse testing, the authors’ findings promise to become important ingredients for a comprehensive theory of human history across space and time within linguistics and beyond.

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 300-318
Author(s):  
Kinga Gál ◽  
Kata Eplényi

This article covers those minority-related developments, important events and “missing” steps of the eu Institutions, especially the ep and the European Commission, throughout the year of 2014 that relate to traditional national minorities, regional language groups, and national communities. The year 2014 cannot be separated from 2013, thus the study covers one and a half years and analyses—among others—issues such as the first results of the European Citizens Initiative, the adopted resolution on endangered European languages and linguistic diversity in the European Union, the successful re-establishment of the “Intergroup for Traditional Minorities, National Communities and Languages” and the challenges the European Commission faces in this field. The study provides an analytical evaluation of this period. Throughout 2013 and 2014 a few minor steps forward were made within the European institutions on the field related to national minority protection; however, none of these should be over- or underestimated.


Author(s):  
Maarten Mous

For a long time the dominant view on Africa’s linguistic diversity was one of four major language families and few or no language isolates (Greenberg 1966). Currently a number of the higher level language family relationships are doubted and some languages are considered isolates. This chapter argues to distinguish between isolates, languages that are unclassified because of lack of data and those because of lack of surviving language structures and lexicon. Surrogate languages such as argots and secret languages may harbor lexicon of languages and families that have disappeared. The early spread of cattle and pastoralism in East Africa has created specific power relations with hunter-gatherer groups that has led to recurrent language shift. This is an important factor in the reduction of linguistic diversity in East Africa. Linking current language groups with archeological culture is risky in the current state of linguistic reconstruction. More detailed human DNA including old DNA research can clarify the picture, although there too the link with linguistic groups is challenging.


1996 ◽  
pp. 4-15
Author(s):  
S. Golovaschenko ◽  
Petro Kosuha

The report is based on the first results of the study "The History of the Evangelical Christians-Baptists in Ukraine", carried out in 1994-1996 by the joint efforts of the Department of Religious Studies at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Odessa Theological Seminary of Evangelical Christian Baptists. A large-scale description and research of archival sources on the history of evangelical movements in our country gave the first experience of fruitful cooperation between secular and church researchers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-106
Author(s):  
ASTEMIR ZHURTOV ◽  

Cruel and inhumane acts that harm human life and health, as well as humiliate the dignity, are prohibited in most countries of the world, and Russia is no exception in this issue. The article presents an analysis of the institution of responsibility for torture in the Russian Federation. The author comes to the conclusion that the current criminal law of Russia superficially and fragmentally regulates liability for torture, in connection with which the author formulated the proposals to define such act as an independent crime. In the frame of modern globalization, the world community pays special attention to the protection of human rights, in connection with which large-scale international standards have been created a long time ago. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international acts enshrine prohibitions of cruel and inhumane acts that harm human life and health, as well as degrade the dignity.Considering the historical experience of the past, these standards focus on the prohibition of any kind of torture, regardless of the purpose of their implementation.


Author(s):  
Olga V. Khavanova ◽  

The second half of the eighteenth century in the lands under the sceptre of the House of Austria was a period of development of a language policy addressing the ethno-linguistic diversity of the monarchy’s subjects. On the one hand, the sphere of use of the German language was becoming wider, embracing more and more segments of administration, education, and culture. On the other hand, the authorities were perfectly aware of the fact that communication in the languages and vernaculars of the nationalities living in the Austrian Monarchy was one of the principal instruments of spreading decrees and announcements from the central and local authorities to the less-educated strata of the population. Consequently, a large-scale reform of primary education was launched, aimed at making the whole population literate, regardless of social status, nationality (mother tongue), or confession. In parallel with the centrally coordinated state policy of education and language-use, subjects-both language experts and amateur polyglots-joined the process of writing grammar books, which were intended to ease communication between the different nationalities of the Habsburg lands. This article considers some examples of such editions with primary attention given to the correlation between private initiative and governmental policies, mechanisms of verifying the textbooks to be published, their content, and their potential readers. This paper demonstrates that for grammar-book authors, it was very important to be integrated into the patronage networks at the court and in administrative bodies and stresses that the Vienna court controlled the process of selection and financing of grammar books to be published depending on their quality and ability to satisfy the aims and goals of state policy.


HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 495d-495
Author(s):  
J. Farias-Larios ◽  
A. Michel-Rosales

In Western Mexico, melon production depends on high-input systems to maximize yield and product quality. Tillage, plasticulture, fumigation with methyl bromide, and fertigation, are the principal management practices in these systems. However, at present several problems has been found: pests as sweetpotato whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Gennadius), aphids (Myzus and Aphis), leafminer (Liryomiza sativae); diseases as Fusarium, Verticilium, and Pseudoperenospora, and weeds demand high pesticide utilization and labor. There is a growing demand for alternative cultural practices, with an emphasis on reducing off-farm input labor and chemicals. Our research is based on use of organic mulches, such as: rice straw, mature maize leaves, banana leaves, sugarcane bagasse, coconut leaves, and living mulches with annual legume cover crop in melons with crop rotation, such as: Canavalia, Stilozobium, Crotalaria, and Clitoria species. Also, inoculations with mycorrhizal arbuscular fungi for honeydew and cantaloupe melon seedlings production are been assayed in greenhouse conditions for a transplant system. The use of life barriers with sorghum, marigold, and other aromatic native plants in conjunction with a colored yellow systems traps for monitoring pests is being studied as well. While that the pest control is based in commercial formulations of Beauveria bassiana for biological control. The first results of this research show that the Glomus intraradices, G. fasciculatum, G. etunicatum, and G. mosseae reached 38.5%, 33.5%, 27.0%, and 31.0% of root infection levels, respectively. Honeydew melons production with rice and corn straw mulches shows an beneficial effect with 113.30 and 111.20 kg/plot of 10 m2 compared with bare soil with 100.20 kg. The proposed system likely also lowers production cost and is applicable to small- and large-scale melon production.


1994 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 279-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Güldner ◽  
W. Hegemann ◽  
N. Peschen ◽  
K. Sölter

The integration of the chemical precipitation unit which would inject a lime solution into a series of mechanical-biological processes, including nitrification/denitrification, and the sludge treatment are the subject of this project. The essential target is the large-scale reconstruction of a mechanical-biological sewage treatment plant with insufficient cleaning performance in the new German states and the adjustment of the precipitation stage to the unsteady inflow of sewage. First results indicate that the pre-treatment performance could be improved by ≅ 20% and the discharge of concentrations of COD, BOD, N and P could be reduced and homogenized. In addition, experiments on hydrolysis and acidifiability of the pre-treatment sludge have been carried out on a laboratory level with the object of making sources of carbon readily available for denitrification. In the course of the experiment, inhibition of fatty acid production by calcareous primary sludge could not be detected. The characteristics of the sludge, such as draining and thickening were considerably improved by the adding of lime.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (S356) ◽  
pp. 170-170
Author(s):  
Jari Kotilainen

AbstractWe present first results from our study of the host galaxies and environments of quasars in Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA), a multiwavelength photometric and spectroscopic survey for ∼300,000 galaxies over ∼300 deg2, to a limiting magnitude of r ∼ 20 mag. We use a GAIA-selected sample of ∼350 quasars at z < 0.3 in GAMA. For all the quasars, we determine all surrounding GAMA galaxies and measure their star formation (SF) rate and SF history, and the host galaxy morphology and group membership of the quasars. As a comparison sample of inactive galaxies, we use 1000 subsets of galaxies in GAMA, matched in redshift and galaxy stellar mass to the quasars. We find that quasar activity does not depend on the large-scale environment (cluster/group/void), although quasars tend to prefer satellite location in their environment. Compared to inactive galaxies, quasars are preferentially hosted in bulge-dominated galaxies and have higher SF rates, both overall and averaged over the last 10 and 100 Myr. Quasars also have shorter median SF timescales, shorter median time since the last SF burst, and higher metallicity than inactive galaxies. We discuss these results in terms of triggering mechanisms of the quasar activity and the role of quasars in galaxy evolution.


2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haifeng Huang

AbstractFor a long time, since China’s opening to the outside world in the late 1970s, admiration for foreign socioeconomic prosperity and quality of life characterized much of the Chinese society, which contributed to dissatisfaction with the country’s development and government and a large-scale exodus of students and emigrants to foreign countries. More recently, however, overestimating China’s standing and popularity in the world has become a more conspicuous feature of Chinese public opinion and the social backdrop of the country’s overreach in global affairs in the last few years. This essay discusses the effects of these misperceptions about the world, their potential sources, and the outcomes of correcting misperceptions. It concludes that while the world should get China right and not misinterpret China’s intentions and actions, China should also get the world right and have a more balanced understanding of its relationship with the world.


2010 ◽  
Vol 278 (1704) ◽  
pp. 474-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Dediu

Language is a hallmark of our species and understanding linguistic diversity is an area of major interest. Genetic factors influencing the cultural transmission of language provide a powerful and elegant explanation for aspects of the present day linguistic diversity and a window into the emergence and evolution of language. In particular, it has recently been proposed that linguistic tone —the usage of voice pitch to convey lexical and grammatical meaning—is biased by two genes involved in brain growth and development, ASPM and Microcephalin . This hypothesis predicts that tone is a stable characteristic of language because of its ‘genetic anchoring’. The present paper tests this prediction using a Bayesian phylogenetic framework applied to a large set of linguistic features and language families, using multiple software implementations, data codings, stability estimations, linguistic classifications and outgroup choices. The results of these different methods and datasets show a large agreement, suggesting that this approach produces reliable estimates of the stability of linguistic data. Moreover, linguistic tone is found to be stable across methods and datasets, providing suggestive support for the hypothesis of genetic influences on its distribution.


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