Pseudocleft Connectedness: Implications for the LF Interface Level

1999 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Heycock ◽  
Anthony Kroch

Pseudoclefts constitute a difficult challenge for linguistic theory, displaying effects of core syntactic conditions in a noncanonical configuration that cannot be normalized with standard syntactic operations. We argue that these “connectedness” effects follow from the nature of pseudoclefts as equatives. This treatment yields an integrated account of the syntactic and semanticopragmatic properties of the construction, but leads to the conclusion that certain syntactic constraints apply to a level of representation more abstract than LF under most current conceptions. This representation is built up in the process of discourse interpretation and may constitute the interface with the conceptual-intentional system of mind.

Author(s):  
Patricia G. Calarco ◽  
Margaret C. Siebert

Visualization of preimplantation mammalian embryos by electron microscopy is difficult due to the large size of the ircells, their relative lack of internal structure, and their highly hydrated cytoplasm. For example, the fertilized egg of the mouse is a single cell of approximately 75μ in diameter with little organized cytoskelet on and apaucity ofor ganelles such as endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi material. Thus, techniques that work well on tissues or cell lines are often not adaptable to embryos at either the LM or EM level.Over several years we have perfected techniques for visualization of mammalian embryos by LM and TEM, SEM and for the pre-embedding localization of antigens. Post-embedding antigenlocalization in thin sections of mouse oocytes and embryos has presented a more difficult challenge and has been explored in LR White, LR Gold, soft EPON (after etching of sections), and Lowicryl K4M. To date, antigen localization has only been achieved in Lowicryl-embedded material, although even with polymerization at-40°C, the small ER vesicles characteristic of embryos are unrecognizable.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Zaidan Ali Jassem

This paper traces the Arabic origins or cognates of the “definite articles” in English and Indo-European languages from a radical linguistic (or lexical root) theory perspective. The data comprises the definite articles in English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, Latin, Greek, Macedonian, Russian, Polish, Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Persian, and Arabic. The results clearly indicate that five different types of such articles emerged in the data, all of which have true Arabic cognates with the same or similar forms and meanings, whose differences are due to natural and plausible causes and different routes of linguistic change, especially lexical, semantic, or morphological shift. Therefore, the results support the adequacy of the radical linguistic theory according to which, unlike the Family Tree Model or Comparative Method, Arabic, English, German, French, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit not only belong to the same language family, renamed Eurabian or Urban family, but also are dialects of the same language, with Arabic being their origin all because only it shares the whole cognates with them all and because it has a huge phonetic, morphological, grammatical, and lexical variety. They also manifest fundamental flaws and grave drawbacks which plague English and Indo-European lexicography for ignoring Arabic as an ultimate ancestor and progenitor not only in the treatment of the topic at hand but in all others in general. On a more general level, they also show that there is a radical language from which all human languages stemmed and which has been preserved almost intact in Arabic, thus being the most conservative and productive language


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-87
Author(s):  
Laura Carmen Cuțitaru

Abstract The 2016 much acclaimed American sci-fi movie Arrival is based on (what is in reality an extension of) the so-called “Sapir-Whorf” hypothesis, a linguistic theory set forth in the first half of the 20th century, according to which one’s native language dictates the way in which one perceives reality. By taking into account the latest in human knowledge, this paper tries to provide arguments as to why such a claim works wonderfully in fiction, but not in science.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Miller-Naudé ◽  
Jacobus A Naudé

The concern of the paper is to highlight how computational analysis of Biblical Hebrew grammar can now be done in very sophisticated ways and with insightful results for exegesis. Three databases, namely, the Eep Talstra Centre for Bible and Computer (ETCBC) Database, the Accordance Hebrew Syntactic Database, and the Andersen-Forbes Syntactic Database,are compared in terms of their relation to linguistic theory (or, theories), the nature and spectrum of retrieved data, and the representation of synchronic and diachronic linguistic variation. Interaction between different contexts, including the African context, are promoted namely between linguists working on Biblical Hebrew and exegetes working on the Hebrew Bible by illustrating how exegesis and language are intimately connected, as well as among geographical contexts by comparing a European database (ETCBC), a North American database (Accordance) and a Southern hemisphere database (Andersen-Forbes).


Author(s):  
Yuval Jobani ◽  
Nahshon Perez

Contested sacred sites pose a difficult challenge in the field of toleration. Holy sites are often at the center of intense contestation between different groups regarding a wide variety of issues, including ownership, access, usage rights, permissible religious conduct, and many other aspects. As such, they are often the source of immense levels of violence, and intractable, long-standing conflicts. Governing the Sacred profiles five central contested sacred sites which exemplify the immense difficulties associated with such sites: Devils Tower National Monument (Wyoming, U.S.), Babri Masjid/Ram Janmabhoomi (Uttar-Pradesh, India), the Western Wall (Jerusalem), the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem), and the Temple Mount/Haram esh-Sharif (Jerusalem). The in-depth, contextual and casuistic study of these sites, which differ in spatial, cultural, and religious settings, enables the construction of a novel, critical typology of five corresponding models or ways of governing the sacred. By telling the fascinating stories of five high-profile contested sacred sites, Governing the Sacred develops and critically explores five different models of governing contested sacred sites: “non-interference,” “separation and division,” “preference,” “status quo,” and “closure.” Each model, in turn, relies on different sets of considerations, central among them trade-offs between religious liberty and social order. Beyond its scholarly contribution, the novel typology developed in Governing the Sacred aims to assist democratic governments in their attempt to secure public order and mutual toleration among opposed groups in contested sacred sites.


Author(s):  
Barnaby Taylor

Lucretius’ Epicurean poem De Rerum Natura (‘On the Nature of Things’), written in the middle of the first century BC, made a fundamental and lasting contribution to the language of Latin philosophy. This book is a study of Lucretius’ linguistic innovation and creativity. Lucretius is depicted as a linguistic trailblazer, extending and augmenting the technical language of Latin in order to describe the Epicurean universe of atoms and void in all its complexity and sublimity. A core thesis of the book is that a detailed understanding of Epicurean linguistic theory will bring with it a greater appreciation of Lucretius’ own language. Accordingly, the book features an in-depth reconstruction of certain core features of Epicurean linguistic theory. Elements of Lucretius’ style that are discussed include his attitudes to and use of figurative language (especially metaphor); his explorations, both explicit and implicit, of Latin etymology; his uses of Greek; and his creative deployment of compounds and prefixed words. His practice is related throughout not only to the underlying Epicurean theory but also to contemporary Roman attitudes to style and language.


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