scholarly journals Consistency and Variability in Children’s Word Learning Across Languages

Open Mind ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 52-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mika Braginsky ◽  
Daniel Yurovsky ◽  
Virginia A. Marchman ◽  
Michael C. Frank
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Parent Report ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Function Words ◽  
Lexical Categories ◽  
Derived Properties ◽  
Report Data ◽  
And Function

Why do children learn some words earlier than others? The order in which words are acquired can provide clues about the mechanisms of word learning. In a large-scale corpus analysis, we use parent-report data from over 32,000 children to estimate the acquisition trajectories of around 400 words in each of 10 languages, predicting them on the basis of independently derived properties of the words’ linguistic environment (from corpora) and meaning (from adult judgments). We examine the consistency and variability of these predictors across languages, by lexical category, and over development. The patterning of predictors across languages is quite similar, suggesting similar processes in operation. In contrast, the patterning of predictors across different lexical categories is distinct, in line with theories that posit different factors at play in the acquisition of content words and function words. By leveraging data at a significantly larger scale than previous work, our analyses identify candidate generalizations about the processes underlying word learning across languages.

scholarly journals Consistency and variability in children's word learning across languages

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mika Braginsky ◽  
Daniel Yurovsky ◽  
Virginia A. Marchman ◽  
Michael C. Frank
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Parent Report ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Function Words ◽  
Lexical Categories ◽  
Derived Properties ◽  
Report Data ◽  
And Function

Why do children learn some words earlier than others? The order in which words are acquired can provide clues about the mechanisms of word learning. In a large-scale corpus analysis, we use parent-report data from over 32,000 children to estimate the acquisition trajectories of around 400 words in each of 10 languages, predicting them on the basis of independently-derived properties of the words' linguistic environment (from corpora) and meaning (from adult judgments). We examine the consistency and variability of these predictors across languages, by lexical category, and over development. The patterning of predictors across languages is quite similar, suggesting similar processes in operation. In contrast, the patterning of predictors across different lexical categories is distinct, in line with theories that posit different factors at play in the acquisition of content words and function words. By leveraging data at a significantly larger scale than previous work, our analyses identify candidate generalizations about the processes underlying word learning across languages.

scholarly journals Do early noun and verb production predict later verb and noun production? Theoretical implications

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 480-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
EMIDDIA LONGOBARDI ◽  
PIETRO SPATARO ◽  
DIANE L. PUTNICK ◽  
MARC H. BORNSTEIN
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Parent Report ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Semantic Constraints ◽  
Lexical Categories ◽  
Relative Dominance ◽  
Second Year Of Life ◽  
Report Data ◽  
Second Year

AbstractMany studies have addressed the question of the relative dominance of nouns over verbs in the productive vocabularies of children in the second year of life. Surprisingly, cross-class (noun-to-verb and verb-to-noun) relations between these two lexical categories have seldom been investigated. The present longitudinal study employed observational and parent-report data obtained from thirty mother–child dyads at 1;4, 1;8, and 2;0 to examine this issue. Both the Natural Partitions/Relational Relativity (NP/RR) hypothesis and the Emergentist Coalition Model (ECM) predict that having an initial repertoire of common nouns should facilitate the acquisition of novel verbs, whereas only the ECM suggests that children exploit the syntactic and semantic constraints of known verbs to infer the meaning of novel nouns. In line with the ECM, hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the percentages of nouns produced by children at 1;4 predicted later verbs at 1;8, whereas the percentages of verbs produced at 1;8 predicted later nouns at 2;0.

scholarly journals Prosody and Function Words Cue the Acquisition of Word Meanings in 18-Month-Old Infants

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex de Carvalho ◽  
Angela Xiaoxue He ◽  
Jeffrey Lidz ◽  
Anne Christophe
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Lexical Acquisition ◽  
Function Words ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Syntactic Information ◽  
And Function ◽  
Speech Melody

Language acquisition presents a formidable task for infants, for whom word learning is a crucial yet challenging step. Syntax (the rules for combining words into sentences) has been robustly shown to be a cue to word meaning. But how can infants access syntactic information when they are still acquiring the meanings of words? We investigated the contribution of two cues that may help infants break into the syntax and give a boost to their lexical acquisition: phrasal prosody (speech melody) and function words, both of which are accessible early in life and correlate with syntactic structure in the world’s languages. We show that 18-month-old infants use prosody and function words to recover sentences’ syntactic structure, which in turn constrains the possible meanings of novel words: Participants ( N = 48 in each of two experiments) interpreted a novel word as referring to either an object or an action, given its position within the prosodic-syntactic structure of sentences.

Plant hormones, plant growth regulators

2014 ◽  
Vol 155 (26) ◽  
pp. 1011-1018 ◽  
Author(s):  
György Végvári ◽  
Edina Vidéki
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Growth And Development ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Higher Plants ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
Wide Sense ◽  
Large Scale Integration ◽  
Scale Integration ◽  
And Function

Plants seem to be rather defenceless, they are unable to do motion, have no nervous system or immune system unlike animals. Besides this, plants do have hormones, though these substances are produced not in glands. In view of their complexity they lagged behind animals, however, plant organisms show large scale integration in their structure and function. In higher plants, such as in animals, the intercellular communication is fulfilled through chemical messengers. These specific compounds in plants are called phytohormones, or in a wide sense, bioregulators. Even a small quantity of these endogenous organic compounds are able to regulate the operation, growth and development of higher plants, and keep the connection between cells, tissues and synergy beween organs. Since they do not have nervous and immume systems, phytohormones play essential role in plants’ life. Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(26), 1011–1018.

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.

Functional design of glycan-conjugated molecules using a chemoenzymatic approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Makoto Ogata
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Weight ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Natural Compounds ◽  
Low Molecular Weight ◽  
Functional Design ◽  
Enzymatic Method ◽  
Conjugated Molecules ◽  
Design Synthesis ◽  
And Function

Abstract Carbohydrates play important and diverse roles in the fundamental processes of life. We have established a method for accurately and a large scale synthesis of functional carbohydrates with diverse properties using a unique enzymatic method. Furthermore, various artificial glycan-conjugated molecules have been developed by adding these synthetic carbohydrates to macromolecules and to middle and low molecular weight molecules with different properties. These glycan-conjugated molecules have biological activities comparable to or higher than those of natural compounds, and present unique functions. In this review, several synthetic glycan-conjugated molecules are taken as examples to show design, synthesis and function.

A widespread pathway for substitution of adenine by diaminopurine in phage genomes

Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 372 (6541) ◽  
pp. 512-516
Author(s):  
Yan Zhou ◽  
Xuexia Xu ◽  
Yifeng Wei ◽  
Yu Cheng ◽  
Yu Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Restriction Enzymes ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Host Restriction ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Multienzyme System ◽  
Dna Modifications ◽  
Dna Production ◽  
And Function

DNA modifications vary in form and function but generally do not alter Watson-Crick base pairing. Diaminopurine (Z) is an exception because it completely replaces adenine and forms three hydrogen bonds with thymine in cyanophage S-2L genomic DNA. However, the biosynthesis, prevalence, and importance of Z genomes remain unexplored. Here, we report a multienzyme system that supports Z-genome synthesis. We identified dozens of globally widespread phages harboring such enzymes, and we further verified the Z genome in one of these phages, Acinetobacter phage SH-Ab 15497, by using liquid chromatography with ultraviolet and mass spectrometry. The Z genome endows phages with evolutionary advantages for evading the attack of host restriction enzymes, and the characterization of its biosynthetic pathway enables Z-DNA production on a large scale for a diverse range of applications.

scholarly journals Tree Diversity Reduces Fungal Endophyte Richness and Diversity in a Large-Scale Temperate Forest Experiment

Diversity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric A. Griffin ◽  
Joshua G. Harrison ◽  
Melissa K. McCormick ◽  
Karin T. Burghardt ◽  
John D. Parker
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Diversity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
High Throughput Sequencing ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Fungal Endophytes ◽  
Fungal Endophyte ◽  
Tree Diversity ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Community Diversity ◽  
And Function

Although decades of research have typically demonstrated a positive correlation between biodiversity of primary producers and associated trophic levels, the ecological drivers of this association are poorly understood. Recent evidence suggests that the plant microbiome, or the fungi and bacteria found on and inside plant hosts, may be cryptic yet important drivers of important processes, including primary production and trophic interactions. Here, using high-throughput sequencing, we characterized foliar fungal community diversity, composition, and function from 15 broadleaved tree species (N = 545) in a recently established, large-scale temperate tree diversity experiment using over 17,000 seedlings. Specifically, we tested whether increases in tree richness and phylogenetic diversity would increase fungal endophyte diversity (the “Diversity Begets Diversity” hypothesis), as well as alter community composition (the “Tree Diversity–Endophyte Community” hypothesis) and function (the “Tree Diversity–Endophyte Function” hypothesis) at different spatial scales. We demonstrated that increasing tree richness and phylogenetic diversity decreased fungal species and functional guild richness and diversity, including pathogens, saprotrophs, and parasites, within the first three years of a forest diversity experiment. These patterns were consistent at the neighborhood and tree plot scale. Our results suggest that fungal endophytes, unlike other trophic levels (e.g., herbivores as well as epiphytic bacteria), respond negatively to increasing plant diversity.

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