scholarly journals Linguistic Factors Influencing Speech Audiometric Assessment

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martine Coene ◽  
Stefanie Krijger ◽  
Matthias Meeuws ◽  
Geert De Ceulaer ◽  
Paul J. Govaerts
Keyword(s):  
Target Language ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Function Words ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
And Function ◽  
Verbal Repetition ◽  
Cognitive Cost

In speech audiometric testing, hearing performance is typically measured by calculating the number of correct repetitions of a speech stimulus. We investigate to what extent the repetition accuracy of Dutch speech stimuli presented against a background noise is influenced by nonauditory processes. We show that variation in verbal repetition accuracy is partially explained by morpholexical and syntactic features of the target language. Verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, determiners, and pronouns yield significantly lower correct repetitions than nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. The reduced repetition performance for verbs and function words is probably best explained by the similarities in the perceptual nature of verbal morphology and function words in Dutch. For sentences, an overall negative effect of syntactic complexity on speech repetition accuracy was found. The lowest number of correct repetitions was obtained with passive sentences, reflecting the cognitive cost of processing a noncanonical sentence structure. Taken together, these findings may have important implications for the audiological practice. In combination with hearing loss, linguistic complexity may increase the cognitive demands to process sentences in noise, leading to suboptimal functional hearing in day-to-day listening situations. Using test sentences with varying degrees of syntactic complexity may therefore provide useful information to measure functional hearing benefits.

Function Words of Arabic Origin in Hausa

2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 18-51
Author(s):  
Patryk Zając
Keyword(s):  
Web Site ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Function Words ◽  
And Function ◽  
Contextual Adaptation

Abstract The aim of this paper is to analyse Hausa function words of Arabic origin which act as grammatical elements within sentence structure. The twenty-one items identified in Hausa dictionaries as Arabic loans have been presented with reference to their grammatical status (nouns, particles, phrases) and function (co- and subordinators, prepositions). The descriptive features of the Arabic forms and their Hausa counterparts have been taken from reference grammars and verified contextually in regard to their functioning in sentences extracted from texts published on the BBC web-site. As a result, the function words of Arabic origin in Hausa were divided into groups according to their grammatic or pragmatic/stylistic functions. The analysis shows that the Hausa function words are result of contextual adaptation of the Arabic words to the Hausa grammar rather than simply lexical borrowings.

A Guide to Old Spanish

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven N. Dworkin
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Standard Language ◽  
Function Words ◽  
Sound System ◽  
Old Spanish ◽  
And Function ◽  
Linguistic Structures ◽  
Verb Tense ◽  
Modern Standard

This book describes the linguistic structures that constitute Medieval or Old Spanish as preserved in texts written prior to the beginning of the sixteenth century. It emphasizes those structures that contrast with the modern standard language. Chapter 1 presents methodological issues raised by the study of a language preserved only in written sources. Chapter 2 examines questions involved in reconstructing the sound system of Old Spanish before discussing relevant phonetic and phonological details. The chapter ends with an overview of Old Spanish spelling practices. Chapter 3 presents in some detail the nominal, verbal, and pronominal morphology of the language, with attention to regional variants. Chapter 4 describes selected syntactic structures, with emphasis on the noun phrase, verb phrase, object pronoun placement, subject-verb-object word order, verb tense, aspect, and mood. Chapter 5 begins with an extensive list of Old Spanish nouns, adjectives, verbs, and function words that have not survived into the modern standard language. It then presents examples of coexisting variants (doublets) and changes of meaning, and finishes with an overview of the creation of neologisms in the medieval language through derivational morphology (prefixation, suffixation, compounding). The book concludes with an anthology composed of three extracts from Spanish prose texts, one each from the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. The extracts contain footnotes that highlight relevant morphological, syntactic, and lexical features, with cross references to the relevant sections in the body of the book.

scholarly journals Structural and functional brain asymmetries in the early phases of life: a scoping review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrizia Bisiacchi ◽  
Elisa Cainelli
Keyword(s):  
Scoping Review ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Final Analysis ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Large Variability ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Morphological Asymmetry ◽  
Cerebral Asymmetries ◽  
The Right ◽  
And Function

AbstractAsymmetry characterizes the brain in both structure and function. Anatomical asymmetries explain only a fraction of functional variability in lateralization, with structural and functional asymmetries developing at different periods of life and in different ways. In this work, we perform a scoping review of the cerebral asymmetries in the first brain development phases. We included all English-written studies providing direct evidence of hemispheric asymmetries in full-term neonates, foetuses, and premature infants, both at term post-conception and before. The final analysis included 57 studies. The reviewed literature shows large variability in the used techniques and methodological procedures. Most structural studies investigated the temporal lobe, showing a temporal planum more pronounced on the left than on the right (although not all data agree), a morphological asymmetry already present from the 29th week of gestation. Other brain structures have been poorly investigated, and the results are even more discordant. Unlike data on structural asymmetries, functional data agree with each other, identifying a leftward dominance for speech stimuli and an overall dominance of the right hemisphere in all other functional conditions. This generalized dominance of the right hemisphere for all conditions (except linguistic stimuli) is in line with theories stating that the right hemisphere develops earlier and that its development is less subject to external influences because it sustains functions necessary to survive.

scholarly journals Impact of Membrane Lipids on UapA and AzgA Transporter Subcellular Localization and Activity in Aspergillus nidulans

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 514
Author(s):  
Mariangela Dionysopoulou ◽  
George Diallinas
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Subcellular Localization ◽  
Aspergillus Nidulans ◽  
Membrane Lipids ◽  
Membrane Lipid ◽  
Lipid Biosynthesis ◽  
Transport Kinetics ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
And Function

Recent biochemical and biophysical evidence have established that membrane lipids, namely phospholipids, sphingolipids and sterols, are critical for the function of eukaryotic plasma membrane transporters. Here, we study the effect of selected membrane lipid biosynthesis mutations and of the ergosterol-related antifungal itraconazole on the subcellular localization, stability and transport kinetics of two well-studied purine transporters, UapA and AzgA, in Aspergillus nidulans. We show that genetic reduction in biosynthesis of ergosterol, sphingolipids or phosphoinositides arrest A. nidulans growth after germling formation, but solely blocks in early steps of ergosterol (Erg11) or sphingolipid (BasA) synthesis have a negative effect on plasma membrane (PM) localization and stability of transporters before growth arrest. Surprisingly, the fraction of UapA or AzgA that reaches the PM in lipid biosynthesis mutants is shown to conserve normal apparent transport kinetics. We further show that turnover of UapA, which is the transporter mostly sensitive to membrane lipid content modification, occurs during its trafficking and by enhanced endocytosis, and is partly dependent on autophagy and Hect-type HulARsp5 ubiquitination. Our results point out that the role of specific membrane lipids on transporter biogenesis and function in vivo is complex, combinatorial and transporter-dependent.

Characterizing response quantity on academic social Q&A sites: a multidiscipline comparison of linguistic characteristics of questions

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Li ◽  
Anrunze Li ◽  
Xue Song ◽  
Xinran Li ◽  
Kun Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information Needs ◽  
Function Words ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Five Disciplines ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Academic Communication ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeAs academic social Q&A networking websites become more popular, scholars are increasingly using them to meet their information needs by asking academic questions. However, compared with other types of social media, scholars are less active on these sites, resulting in a lower response quantity for some questions. This paper explores the factors that help explain how to ask questions that generate more responses and examines the impact of different disciplines on response quantity.Design/methodology/approachThe study examines 1,968 questions in five disciplines on the academic social Q&A platform ResearchGate Q&A and explores how the linguistic characteristics of these questions affect the number of responses. It uses a range of methods to statistically analyze the relationship between these linguistic characteristics and the number of responses, and conducts comparisons between disciplines.FindingsThe findings indicate that some linguistic characteristics, such as sadness, positive emotion and second-person pronouns, have a positive effect on response quantity; conversely, a high level of function words and first-person pronouns has a negative effect. However, the impacts of these linguistic characteristics vary across disciplines.Originality/valueThis study provides support for academic social Q&A platforms to assist scholars in asking richer questions that are likely to generate more answers across disciplines, thereby promoting improved academic communication among scholars.

Emphatic Sentences: A Comparative-Translational Study of Formal-Functional Relations in English and Romanian

Transilvania ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 75-84
Author(s):  
Mona Arhire
Keyword(s):  
Target Language ◽  
Original Text ◽  
John Fowles ◽  
Translational Study ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Functional Relations ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
And Function ◽  
Stylistic Device

Emphasis, a well-acknowledged stylistic device, is a carrier of a considerable load of emotional content in the fictional dialogue. Its manifestation can take sundry forms and can be attached to a wide range of feelings and can take different degrees of intensity, all of which determines the creation of the atmosphere and impacts the reception by the readership. This paper reports on the investigation of the occurrence of emphasis embedded in the dialogic utterances of John Fowles’ novel Mantissa. The focus lies on the relation between the formal construction of emphatic sentences and the functional values deriving therefrom. The study entails a comparative analysis of emphatic utterances depicted from the English original text and its translation into Romanian. The three research questions refer to the comparative-contrastive realization of emphatic sentences in the two languages, to the extent to which the functional component succeeds in being transferred to the target language and to possible means of compensation when structural differences pose translational problems. The analysis is structured along a typology of sentences adapted to the nature of the text under scrutiny and to the aims of this study. The findings and conclusions ultimately indicate the importance of establishing a relation between form and function in matter of emphasis in the literary dialogue as an act of communication depending on linguistic devices for its effectiveness.

scholarly journals 「テイル」形と「タ」形の派生アスペクト「パーフェクト性」と インドネシア語の機能語SudahとTelah

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-95
Author(s):  
Nandang Rachmat
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Aspect ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
Future Event ◽  
Function Words ◽  
Basic Meaning ◽  
And Function

The basic meaning of the morphological aspect of Japanese is the opposition between the form -ru/-tawhich expresses perfective,  and -teiru/-teitawhich expresses imperfective. Also there are perfect meanings which derivate from the basic meaning of -taand -teiru/-teitaforms. They refer to the fact that a certain result or effect of previous activity remain at a certain point of time. In Indonesian function wordssudahand telah, which are generally considered as perfective markers, can often be the equivalent of perfect meanings in Japanese. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the differences between perfect aspect meanings in both languages mainly regarding the use of words sudahandtelah. This paper aims to explain perfect meanings in Japanese and Indonesian through the use of -ta, -teiru, -teitaforms and function words sudahand telah by contrastive analysis. The analysis showed that the perfect meanings cannot be fully matched with the use of sudahandtelah. They are not interchangeable because of differences in aspectual, modal, and contextual meanings. Some of them are expressed without using sudahor telah at all. Sudahmeans ingressive aspect, and refers to the result or effect of previous activities. As modal meanings, sudah indicates two things, that the speaker possesses predictions about a future event and the speaker’s attitude to provide the hearer information. Telah means completive aspect. It does not refer to the meaning of the effect of a previous activity, therefore it can not function as taxis on future perfect aspect.

scholarly journals Heterozygous Orthodenticle Homeobox 2 Mutations Are Associated with Variable Pituitary Phenotype

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-133
Author(s):  
Sumito Dateki ◽  
Kitaro Kosaka ◽  
Kosei Hasegawa ◽  
Hiroyuki Tanaka ◽  
Noriyuki Azuma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Target Genes ◽  
Japanese Patients ◽  
Dominant Negative ◽  
Pituitary Function ◽  
Hormone Deficiency ◽  
Dominant Negative Effect ◽  
Pituitary Hormone ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
And Function

ABSTRACT Context Although recent studies have suggested a positive role of OTX2 in pituitary as well as ocular development and function, detailed pituitary phenotypes in OTX2 mutations and OTX2 target genes for pituitary function other than HESX1 and POU1F1 remain to be determined. Objective We aimed to examine such unresolved issues. Subjects We studied 94 Japanese patients with various ocular or pituitary abnormalities. Results We identified heterozygous p.K74fsX103 in case 1, p.A72fsX86 in case 2, p.G188X in two unrelated cases (3 and 4), and a 2,860,561-bp microdeletion involving OTX2 in case 5. Clinical studies revealed isolated GH deficiency in cases 1 and 5; combined pituitary hormone deficiency in case 3; abnormal pituitary structures in cases 1, 3, and 5; and apparently normal pituitary function in cases 2 and 4, together with ocular anomalies in cases 1-5. The wild-type Orthodenticle homeobox 2 (OTX2) protein transactivated the GNRH1 promoter as well as the HESX1, POU1F1, and IRBP (interstitial retinoid-binding protein) promoters, whereas the p.K74fsX103-OTX2 and p.A72fsX86-OTX2 proteins had no transactivation functions and the p.G188X-OTX2 protein had reduced (∼50%) transactivation functions for the four promoters, with no dominant-negative effect. cDNA screening identified positive OTX2 expression in the hypothalamus. Conclusions The results imply that OTX2 mutations are associated with variable pituitary phenotype, with no genotype-phenotype correlations, and that OTX2 can transactivate GNRH1 as well as HESX1 and POU1F1.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document