scholarly journals When Language Contact Says Nothing: A Contrastive Analysis of Queísta Structures in Two Varieties of Peninsular Spanish

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 402-436
Author(s):  
José Luis Blas Arroyo

Abstract Based on the existence of some structural conflict between Spanish and Catalan in certain points of the syntax, this study tests the hypothesis about the influence of the latter on the distribution of queísmo uses (‘Me alegro que vengas’ [‘I’m glad you come’]) in the Spanish spoken in an eastern peninsular variety in contact with Catalan. Using the tools of comparative sociolinguistics, and the analysis of three corpora of contemporary Spanish, the study exhaustively examines the conditioning of this variable. The starting hypothesis is that the influence of the contact can be inferred from the comparison between different magnitudes derived from a multivariable statistical analysis. In addition to several linguistic and extra-linguistic predictors previously analysed in the literature, we also take into account other factor groups that may be particularly informative about that potential influence. Thus, from a structural point of view, we consider the contrast between: a) conjunctive queísmo in verbal structures, in which the structural conflict with Spanish is more evident (‘me acuerdo (de) que vino con su mujer/em recorde Ø que va vindre amb la seua dona’ [‘I remember that he came with his wife’]; and b) pronominal queísmo in relative sentences, in which the coincidence between both languages is greater (‘el día (en) que nos conocimos / el día (en) què ens vam conéixer’). From an extralinguistic perspective, the incidence of two additional factors is also examined: a) the speech community (without contact (Madrid/Alcalá) vs. in contact (Castellón), and b) the main language of the speakers (Spanish/Catalan-Valencian). The results of several mixed-effect regression analyses performed do not support the hypothesis of contact. The distributional differences between the above-mentioned groups are minimal, and in no case significant. On the other hand, the variation is basically affected by the same structural and non-structural predictors, regardless of the speech community or the ethnolinguistic group examined. Even the few divergences that are observed point in a direction contrary to that expected by the contact hypothesis. The study concludes with some potential explanations about these results and the contrast with other cases of syntactic convergence with Catalan.

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Luis Blas Arroyo

AbstractIn line with trends observed in other Spanish and Romance-speaking regions, the morphological future tense MF (cantaré) is declining in the Castellón speech community (Spain) in favor of the periphrastic variant PF (voy a cantar) for the expression of future events. The multivariate analysis shows the relevance of some linguistic factors in this process, mainly the degree of proximity of the act of speech, the sentence and epistemic modality, the degree of adverbial specification, the class of verbs and, to a lesser extent, the semantic category of the subject (agency), and the types of clause and text. All in all, MF still enjoys a substantial vitality in this Spanish region unknown in other Hispanic areas and that can be related to a convergence process with Catalan, the other language of the region which shares a single variant for expressing the future, namely, the morphological form. Some additional data obtained from 191 interviews of the Sociolinguistic Corpus of Castellón (CSCS) point out the relevance of social factors related with the density of the bilingual population in the speech community, both at the collective and individual levels. The vernacular profile of this MF, favored and retained for the most autochthones elements of society, also clashes with the sociolinguistic profile of this variant in other Spanish-speaking areas where the process of substitution has been described in many cases as a change for below. In sum, language contact can slow down and alter some linguistic change much more advanced in monolingual communities.


The results of experimental studies of masonry on the action of dynamic and static (short-term and long-term) loads are presented. The possibility of plastic deformations in the masonry is analyzed for different types of force effects. The falsity of the proposed approach to the estimation of the coefficient of plasticity of masonry, taking into account the ratio of elastic and total deformations of the masonry is noted. The study of the works of Soviet scientists revealed that the masonry under the action of seismic loads refers to brittle materials in the complete absence of plastic properties in it in the process of instantaneous application of forces. For the cases of uniaxial and plane stress states of the masonry, data on the coefficient of plasticity obtained from the experiment are presented. On the basis of experimental studies the influence of the strength of the so-called base materials (brick, mortar) on the bearing capacity of the masonry, regardless of the nature of the application of forces and the type of its stress state, is noted. The analysis of works of prof. S. V. Polyakov makes it possible to draw a conclusion that at the long application of the load, characteristic for the masonry are not plastic deformations, but creep deformations. It is shown that the proposals of some authors on the need to reduce the level of adhesion of the mortar to the brick for the masonry erected in earthquake-prone regions in order to improve its plastic properties are erroneous both from the structural point of view and from the point of view of ensuring the seismic resistance of structures. It is noted that the proposal to assess the plasticity of the masonry of ceramic brick walls and large-format ceramic stone with a voidness of more than 20% is incorrect, and does not meet the work of the masonry of hollow material. On the basis of the analysis of a large number of research works it is concluded about the fragile work of masonry.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 44-59
Author(s):  
Lidia Peneva

Crimes against marriage and family are a particular group of social relation­ships that the law has defended properly in view of the high public significance and value they enjoy. At the moment they are regulated in Chapter VI, Section I, of the specific part of the Penal Code the Repub­lic of Bulgaria. The subject matter of this Statement will, however, be the legisla­tive provisions concerning these criminal­ized acts in retrospect. The purpose of the study is to show by historical method and through the comparatively legal method the development of these criminal groups during the periods of various criminal laws in Bulgaria. This will also provide a basis for reflection on possible de lege ferenda proposals. This report from a structural point of view will be divided into three distinct points, marking each of the penal laws in the Republic of Bulgaria, which were in force before 1968.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. e001230
Author(s):  
Michael Reid ◽  
George Kephart ◽  
Pantelis Andreou ◽  
Alysia Robinson

BackgroundRisk-adjusted rates of hospital readmission are a common indicator of hospital performance. There are concerns that current risk-adjustment methods do not account for the many factors outside the hospital setting that can affect readmission rates. Not accounting for these external factors could result in hospitals being unfairly penalized when they discharge patients to communities that are less able to support care transitions and disease management. While incorporating adjustments for the myriad of social and economic factors outside of the hospital setting could improve the accuracy of readmission rates as a performance measure, doing so has limited feasibility due to the number of potential variables and the paucity of data to measure them. This paper assesses a practical approach to addressing this problem: using mixed-effect regression models to estimate case-mix adjusted risk of readmission by community of patients’ residence (community risk of readmission) as a complementary performance indicator to hospital readmission rates.MethodsUsing hospital discharge data and mixed-effect regression models with a random intercept for community, we assess if case-mix adjusted community risk of readmission can be useful as a quality indicator for community-based care. Our outcome of interest was an unplanned repeat hospitalisation. Our primary exposure was community of residence.ResultsCommunity of residence is associated with case-mix adjusted risk of unplanned repeat hospitalisation. Community risk of readmission can be estimated and mapped as indicators of the ability of communities to support both care transitions and long-term disease management.ConclusionContextualising readmission rates through a community lens has the potential to help hospitals and policymakers improve discharge planning, reduce penalties to hospitals, and most importantly, provide higher quality care to the people that they serve.


Multilingua ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Eve Bouchard

AbstractIn São Tomé and Príncipe, the language shift toward Portuguese is resulting in the endangerment of the native creoles of the island. These languages have been considered of low value in Santomean society since the mid-twentieth century. But when Santomeans are members of a diaspora, their perceptions of these languages, especially Forro, change in terms of value and identity-marking. It is possible to observe such changes among the Santomeans who learn Forro when they are abroad, who use it as an in-group code, and start to value it more. In this article, I address the role of language contact in the maintenance and expansion of Forro. I investigate the mechanisms of language maintenance by focusing on the shifts in community members’ attitudes and beliefs regarding their languages, as a result of contact. The changing attitudes and beliefs have led to a redefinition of the role of Forro in the speech community. This qualitative study is based on semistructured interviews conducted on São Tomé Island and in Portugal. Findings suggest that the change in value attributed to Forro by Santomeans as a result of contact contribute to the valorization of the language.


Membranes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 429
Author(s):  
Aurelia Cristina Nechifor ◽  
Andreia Pîrțac ◽  
Paul Constantin Albu ◽  
Alexandra Raluca Grosu ◽  
Florina Dumitru ◽  
...  

The separation, concentration and transport of the amino acids through membranes have been continuously developed due to the multitude of interest amino acids of interest and the sources from which they must be recovered. At the same time, the types of membranes used in the sepa-ration of the amino acids are the most diverse: liquids, ion exchangers, inorganic, polymeric or composites. This paper addresses the recuperative separation of three amino acids (alanine, phe-nylalanine, and methionine) using membranes from cellulosic derivatives in polypropylene ma-trix. The microfiltration membranes (polypropylene hollow fibers) were impregnated with solu-tions of some cellulosic derivatives: cellulose acetate, 2-hydroxyethyl-cellulose, methyl 2-hydroxyethyl-celluloseand sodium carboxymethyl-cellulose. The obtained membranes were characterized in terms of the separation performance of the amino acids considered (retention, flux, and selectivity) and from a morphological and structural point of view: scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution SEM (HR-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA). The re-sults obtained show that phenylalanine has the highest fluxes through all four types of mem-branes, followed by methionine and alanine. Of the four kinds of membrane, the most suitable for recuperative separation of the considered amino acids are those based on cellulose acetate and methyl 2-hydroxyethyl-cellulose.


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Milan Melnik ◽  
Peter Mikuš ◽  
Clive E. Holloway

AbstractThis review classifies and analyzes over fifty heterohepta- and heterooctanuclear platinum clusters. There are eight types of metal combinations in heteroheptanuclear: Pt6M, Pt5M2, Pt4M3, Pt3M4, Pt2M5, PtM6, Pt3Hg2Ru2 and Pt2Os3Fe2. The seven metal atoms are in a wide variety of arrangements, with the most common being one in which the central M atom (mostly M(I)) is sandwiched by two M3 triangles. Another arrangement often found is an octahedron of M6 atoms asymmetrically capped by an M atom. The shortest Pt-M bond distances (non-transition and transition) are 2.326(1) Å (M = Ga) and 2.537(6) Å (M = Fe). The shortest Pt-Pt bond distance is 2.576(2) Å.In heterooctanuclear platinum clusters there are eight types of metal combinations: Pt6M2, Pt4M4, Pt3Ru5, Pt2M6, PtM7, Pt2W4Ni2, PtAu6Hg and PtAu5Hg2. From a structural point of view, the clusters are complex with bicapped octahedrons of eight metal atoms prevailing. The shortest Pt-M bond distances (non-transition and transition) are 2.651(3) Å (M = Hg) and 2.624(1) Å (M = Os). The shortest Pt-Pt bond distance is 2.622(1) Å. These values are somewhat longer than those in the heteroheptanuclear clusters. Several relationships between the structural parameters were found, and are discussed and compared with the smaller heterometallic platinum clusters


2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 249-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Ploog

AbstractChange is an ongoing process constitutive of human language to which will be refered by the term of dynamics. It will be worked out how mere interaction conditions the language dynamics and how the disposable structural resources will be coordinated in microsystems. Since from this point of view grammar exists as a process, it will be of interest to work out by what type of mechanisms a bilingual speaker elaborates his/her discourse. It will be discussed what can be called a (more) 'useful' construction and through what type of mechanisms the constructions get coordinated. We will argue that all discursive mechanisms are bound to satisfy the pragmatic demands of an actual speech production and that the most useful items are those which best satisfy these pragmatic demands.One of the most characteristic phenomena of the linguistic dynamics in Ivory Coast is the microsystem of LA: In a highly heterogeneous context of social interaction, LA is used in (the locally dominant) discursive traditions of French and Mande languages, undergoing a grammaticalization process separately in each of them and used - consequently - in various constructions. The wide range of its referential values, the very importance of the negotiation of discourse referents between speaker and hearer and its simple phonological form seem to predestine LA to get reappropriated and to become a 'favorite' form in the emergent speech community.


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