Establishing a Sprachbund in the Western Lingnan region: conceptual and methodological issues

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pui Yiu Szeto ◽  
Chingduang Yurayong

Abstract It is well-known that Tai-Kadai languages have affected the typological profiles of Southern Sinitic varieties. For example, compared with their northern sisters, Southern Sinitic varieties display a stronger tendency towards head-initial structures, as in the N–N compounds for expressing the sex of animals and in post-verbal temporal adverbs. Given that the Tai-Kadai languages in China have been in contact with Sinitic for over two millennia, it is quite natural to find signs of Sinitic influence therein. Most remarkably, pre-verbal adjunct phrases and pre-nominal relative clauses, which are extremely atypical of VO languages but distinctive of Sinitic, are attested in some Tai-Kadai languages in Southern China. The prevalence of such typologically unusual traits among different linguistic groups in the Lingnan region of Southern China provides strong support for its status as a linguistic area. Devising and adopting a ‘mutualist’ approach, we analyse the typological data of over 280 language varieties, which we believe illustrates and strongly supports the idea that Western Lingnan qualifies as a linguistic area in its own right according to criteria widely recognized by areal linguists. The approach proposed in this study can be applied to other putative linguistic areas around the world to study the mechanisms and outcomes of contact-induced change under a specific set of ecological conditions.

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 232-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Ya. Doroshina ◽  
E. Yu. Kuzmina ◽  
I. A. Nikolajev

Information on the Sphagnum mosses of the South Ossetia is generalized, the resulted list is presented. Nine species of Sphagnum are included in the list, whereabouts data and references to the publications are given, and the presence of a sample in the Herbarium of the Komarov Botanical Institute RAS (LE) is noted. The species Sphagnum platyphyllum (Lindb. ex Braithw.) Warnst. rarely occurring in the Caucasus is reported in the South Ossetia for the first time. The species was found in the Caucasus, South Ossetia, at the side of the Ertso Lake (42°28ʹN, 43°45ʹE), 1720 m a. s. l., among sedge thickets at the margin of the overgrowing lake. The peculiarities of its occurrence and ecological conditions are considered. Its distribution in the Caucasus and in the world is discussed.


2009 ◽  
pp. 1-2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Kentor

This special issue of JWSR is the offspring of an ASA Political Economy of the World System session that I organized in 2007. My thanks to Andrew Jorgenson, co-editor of JWSR, who moderated the session and proposed that I put together a special issue on this topic. In turn, I asked Timothy Moran to join me as co-editor of this issue. Tim is one of the foremost quantitative macro-comparative sociologists in the country, and was the discussant on the PEWS panel. Tim provides a summary and discussion of the contributions in the conclusion. As it turns out, only two of the panel presentations are included in this issue. The other two were submitted in response to a general call for papers. All four manuscripts were peer reviewed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunbin Huang ◽  
Arnaud Faille ◽  
Mingyi Tian

Limestone areas of China host remarkable radiations of cave animals. The subterranean trechine beetles (Carabidae: Trechini), the most diverse and modified group of subterranean beetles in the world, are extremely diverse in southern China. The first aphaenopsian trechine beetle, Sinaphaenops mirabilissimus Uéno & Wang, 1991 was reported from a limestone cave in Guizhou province. Up to now, 146 species within 48 genera of aphaenopsian trechine have been described in China after almost three decades. Among them, the genera Giraffaphaenops, Xuedytes, Dongodytes, Sinaphaenops and Pilosaphaenops from northwest Guangxi and south Guizhou are the most modified troglobitic trechine beetles known so far in the world. They are remarkable by their morphology combining extremely slender body and elongated appendages. Some of them are diversified or quite widespread, which is not the case of Xuedytes Tian & Huang, 2017, a remarkable monospecific genus known from a single locality so far. In addition to the surveys and collection of specimens, an integrative approach combining the study of systematics, phylogeny, diversification and biogeography patterns of the cave trechine beetles in China is on the way, in order to understand the origin of the remarkable biodiversity and evolutionary success of this group.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Kasri bin Saidon ◽  
Zolkefli bin Bahador ◽  
Khaliza binti Saidin

This paper is a brief review on social situation in Tanah Melayu (Malaysia), specifically in the state of Kedah, prior to World War Two. Generally, the situation and social understanding in Kedah was influenced by the influx of immigrants especially the Chinese who came for economic reasons.  These immigrants brought with them the culture and the way of life in the Mainland China. This, in a way, affected people’s lives in Kedah. With the strong support from the Chinese, communism began to make its mark among other ethnic groups in the society. The Triads culture became strong and it lead to other anti-national activities. This, in turn, affected the economic, political, and social influence. All these aspects seemed to have become the foundation of a bigger influence after the surrender of Japan. They have also become the foundation for social equality and differences during   the Emergency period from 1948-1960.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-121
Author(s):  
M. Troian ◽  
V. Shkola ◽  
M. Domashenko ◽  
T. Makarenko

With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism industry faced a crisis that could be the worst in history. In recent years, the tourism industry has been one of the fastest-growing industries, sometimes faster than the world economy as a whole. 2019 has brought unprecedented changes to the world order, affecting all socio-ecological and economic ties. What are the consequences of and will have global tourism in connection with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, which countries and regions of the world will suffer the greatest losses, what threatens and what are the benefits of the tourism crisis that will bring a "new order" to the tourism industry, what innovative management anti-crisis measures should be applied by world governments and non-governmental organizations to overcome the unprecedented tourism crisis - all these issues remain acute and have identified the research topic. The paper examines the methodological developments and recommendations for overcoming the tourism crisis in Europe caused by the pandemic virus COVID-19, namely, the article identifies the basics and consequences of the pandemic impact on market capital on the example of tourism in Europe and the world, shows that the global tourism industry is one of the main factors in the formation of market capital, studied market capital as a component of intellectual capital on the example of tourism in the EU, outlined the prospects for global tourism, developed a system of measures to overcome the global crisis through tourism SWOT-analysis. Namely: enhanced multilateral cooperation and strong support are important for the resumption of tourism; the speed of adaptation of governments at all levels and the private sector involved in the tourism sector and the ability to respond quickly and adapt to the crisis; providing targeted and affordable government support as quickly and efficiently as possible for vulnerable tourism enterprises, workers and tourists; ensuring policy clarity and taking measures to limit uncertainty; invention and development of more sustainable and sustainable (socio-ecological-economic) models of tourism; development of tourism education and legislation.


2021 ◽  

This book focuses on ethical and methodological issues encountered by researchers working with young language learners in school contexts. The chapters are written by researchers working with children in different classroom contexts around the world and highlight how ethical dilemmas and tensions take on a complex form in child-focused research.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antônio Sérgio Ferreira de Sá ◽  
Lucas Leonardo-Silva ◽  
Solange Xavier-Santos

Saccharomycetales are ascomycetic yeasts and among them the genus Blastobotrys has approximately 30 known species. Blastobotrys malaysiensis is a yeast species, described from cave samples, known until then only from Malaysia. In this study, we characterize a new strain and report the second occurrence record of this species. Here, Blastobotrys malaysiensis SXS675, was collected from soil samples from a cave in the Parque Estadual de Terra Ronca (PETER) in Goiás, Brazil. Phylogenetic analyzes revealed strong support with the sequence of the species type, as well as with other species of the clade. This new record contributes by providing new molecular data for the species and expanding the knowledge of its distribution beyond the Asian continent. First record of a yeast for the American continent and its second mention for the world. 


2013 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
CHRISTINA PÖSSEL

This paper takes the case study of a well-known but also rather poorly-regarded text, Ratpert of St Gall's Casus Sancti Galli, to examine some of the methodological issues of modern historians reading medieval historians. It is argued that features of Ratpert of St Gall's monastic history which modern readers have found frustrating or even boring were actually the result of the author's specific rhetorical strategies and ideas of history. Ratpert developed an innovative way of writing the history of a Christian community in the mortal world. Unlike other monastic historians who were developing the genre at the time and who followed more hagiographical models, Ratpert chose to put the anonymous, timeless collective of the monks at the centre of his text. His idea of history suggests a lack of effective human agency in the world, in which ups and downs forever follow one another, and contrasts this with the eternity of God.


mBio ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott D. Kobayashi ◽  
Adeline R. Porter ◽  
Brett Freedman ◽  
Ruchi Pandey ◽  
Liang Chen ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTCarbapenem-resistantKlebsiella pneumoniaeis a problem worldwide. A carbapenem-resistantK. pneumoniaelineage classified as multilocus sequence type 258 (ST258) is prominent in the health care setting in many regions of the world, including the United States. ST258 strains can be resistant to virtually all clinically useful antibiotics; treatment of infections caused by these organisms is difficult, and mortality is high. As a step toward promoting development of new therapeutics for ST258 infections, we tested the ability of rabbit antibodies specific for ST258 capsule polysaccharide to enhance human serum bactericidal activity and promote phagocytosis and killing of these bacteria by human neutrophils. We first demonstrated that an isogenicwzydeletion strain is significantly more susceptible to killing by human heparinized blood, serum, and neutrophils than a wild-type ST258 strain. Consistent with the importance of capsule as an immune evasion molecule, rabbit immune serum and purified IgG specific for ST258 capsule polysaccharide type 2 (CPS2) enhanced killing by human blood and serumin vitro. Moreover, antibodies specific for CPS2 promoted phagocytosis and killing of ST258 by human neutrophils. Collectively, our findings suggest that ST258 CPS2 is a viable target for immunoprophylactics and/or therapeutics.IMPORTANCEInfections caused by carbapenem-resistantK. pneumoniaeare difficult to treat, and mortality is high. New prophylactic approaches and/or therapeutic measures are needed to prevent or treat infections caused by these multidrug-resistant bacteria. A strain of carbapenem-resistantK. pneumoniae, classified by multilocus sequence typing as ST258, is present in many regions of the world and is the most prominent carbapenem-resistantK. pneumoniaelineage in the United States. Here we show that rabbit antibodies specific for capsule polysaccharide of ST258 significantly enhance human serum bactericidal activity and promote phagocytosis and killing of this pathogen by human neutrophils. These studies have provided strong support for the idea that development of an immunotherapy (vaccine) for carbapenem-resistantK. pneumoniaeinfections is feasible and has merit.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Sze ◽  
Silva Isma ◽  
Adhika Irlang Suwiryo ◽  
Laura Lesmana Wijaya ◽  
Adhi Kusumo Bharato ◽  
...  

The distinction between languages and dialects has remained a controversial issue in literature. When such a distinction is made, it often has far-reaching implications in top-down language promotion and preservation policies that tend to favor only those varieties that are labelled as ‘languages’. This issue is of critical importance for the survival of most sign language varieties in the world from a socio-political point of view. Against this background, this paper discusses how the notions of ‘dialect’ and ‘language’ have been applied in classifying sign languages in the past few decades. In particular, the paper reports on two recent studies which provide linguistic evidence that the signing varieties used by Deaf signers in Jakarta and Yogyakarta in Indonesia should be regarded as distinct sign languages rather than mutually intelligible dialects of Indonesian Sign Language. The evidence comes from significant differences in the lexicon, preferred word order for encoding transitive events, and use of mouth actions. Our result suggests that signing varieties within a country can be significantly different from each other, thus calling for more concerted efforts in documenting and recognizing these differences if the linguistic needs of the signing communities are to be met.


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