The Syllable Structure of Tiv

Linguistic studies reveal that every language has a particular way of combining its sounds to form words or parts of words called syllables. The paper looks at the syllable structure of the Tiv language, one of the Bantoid languages spoken mostly in the Middle Belt area of Nigeria, especially in Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Nasarawa and Cross River states of Nigeria. The objective of the study is to investigate the internal structure of syllables in the Tiv language in order to establish the regularities and restrictions inherent in the language. The study, therefore, aims at ascertaining the syllable patterns that are found in Tiv. This study adopts qualitative and analytical research design using the C V tier model of the phonological theory of syllable analysis as proposed by McCarthy (1979) and adopted by Clements and Keyser (1983), to explicate the permissible patterns of syllable structures in Tiv. Data for the study were gathered from native speakers of Tiv, whose language has not been corrupted by urbanisation and the researchers' intuitive knowledge of the Tiv language. It was found out in the study that, some of the permissible syllable structures in Tiv language include vowels and consonants like v, cv, ccv, cccv, cvc. It was also discovered that all the five vowels of the English alphabets may begin or end a syllable in the Tiv language. As found in English and other languages where the sequential occurrence of two or more consonants is termed consonant cluster, the Tiv syllable structure permits two or more consonants at the initial or final positions of the syllable which could occur as onset or coda, but they are not regarded as consonant clusters. They are regarded as co-articulations. The study concludes that Tiv language has a wide range of phonotactic constraints which if studied can contribute to the development of Tiv language.

Download Full-text

THE SYLLABLE STRUCTURE IN EUROPEAN PORTUGUESE

DELTA Documentação de Estudos em Lingüística Teórica e Aplicada ◽

10.1590/s0102-44501998000100002 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 13-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Maria Helena Mateus ◽

Ernesto D’Andrade

Keyword(s):

Internal Structure ◽

Initial Position ◽

Syllable Structure ◽

Consonant Clusters ◽

European Portuguese

The goal of this paper is to discuss the internal structure of the syllable in European Portuguese and to propose an algorithm for base syllabification. Due to the analysis of consonant clusters in onset position and the occurrence of epenthetic vowels, and considering the variation of the vowels in word initial position that occupy the syllable nucleus without an onset at the phonetic level, we assume that, in European Portuguese, the syllable is always constituted by an onset and a rhyme even though one of these constituents (but not both) may be empty, that is, one of then may have no phonetic realisation.

Download Full-text

Phonological Constraints on the Utterance of L2 Clusters by Saudi ESL Learners

Arab World English Journal ◽

10.24093/awej/vol12no4.36 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 551-559

Author(s):

Abdullah N. Alotaibi

Keyword(s):

English Learners ◽

Research Question ◽

Syllable Structure ◽

Consonant Clusters ◽

Consonant Cluster ◽

Phonological Features ◽

Arabic And English ◽

Esl Learners ◽

The Impact ◽

Phonological System

The field of L2 phonology did not receive much research compared to the other linguistic domains. To add to the field and expand the current literature, the present paper’s goal was to examine the impact of syllable structure differences between Arabic and English in uttering L2 English consonant clusters. The following research question was aimed to be answered: Do the differences between two languages’ syllable structure cause production difficulties in the consonant cluster to Saudi Arabian learners of English? The subjects of this investigation were L2 English learners from Saudi with intermediate proficiency levels in English. Applying the descriptive correlational type of research model, the results showed that learners’ production is mainly influenced by their native language-specific phonological features. The learners’ production of targeted L2 consonant clusters seemed to mirror their underlying phonological system, and syllables structures were modified to match their native Arabic phonological system as a result of language transfer. These findings should be taken into account by L2 speech educators as such speech difficulty is anticipated.

Download Full-text

Phonological Constraints on the Utterance of L2 Clusters by Saudi ESL Learners

10.31235/osf.io/2chvk ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Abdullah Nijr Al-Otaibi

Keyword(s):

English Learners ◽

Research Question ◽

Syllable Structure ◽

Consonant Clusters ◽

Consonant Cluster ◽

Phonological Features ◽

Arabic And English ◽

Esl Learners ◽

The Impact ◽

Phonological System

Download Full-text

Realization of intervocalic consonant clusters in frequency words of the Russian language

Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University Language and Literature ◽

10.21638/spbu09.2020.411 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (4) ◽

pp. 672-690

Author(s):

Elena I. Riekhakaynen ◽

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Chinese Students ◽

Russian Language ◽

Consonant Clusters ◽

Consonant Cluster ◽

Russian Speakers ◽

Oral Speech ◽

Recognition Systems ◽

The Russian Language

The article describes the realization of frequent words with the intervocalic consonant clusters [gd] and [ljk] in the oral speech of three groups of informants: adult native speakers of the Russian language, children aged four to six years and Chinese students learning Russian as a second language (929 realizations of 11 words). The data obtained confirm the hypothesis that the most frequent form of reduction of the analyzed combinations of consonants in Russian speech is the loss of the first consonant. However, the variants with the reduction of the consonant and without it are equally probable in the speech of native Russian speakers for the majority of the analyzed words. In adult native speakers of Russian, there is a tendency to maintain a consonant cluster when the word is at the absolute beginning of the inter-pause interval. Children aged four to six years tend to use only one variant of the consonant clusters in each of the considered words. The main distinctive feature of Russian speech for Chinese students is the large number of sound changes in both intervocalic consonant combinations, as well as the statistically significant prevalence of the full pronunciation over the variant with the loss of the first consonant in the intervocalic cluster for all words with the [ljk] combination. The results can be used to improve existing automatic speech recognition systems, as well as in teaching Russian as a second language.

Download Full-text

Temporal Coordination and Sonority of Jazani Arabic Word-Initial Clusters

Proceedings of the Annual Meetings on Phonology ◽

10.3765/amp.v7i0.4485 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

Author(s):

Mohammed Q. Ruthan ◽

Karthik Durvasula ◽

Yen-Hwei Lin

Keyword(s):

Temporal Pattern ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Syllable Structure ◽

Consonant Clusters ◽

Acoustic Measurements ◽

Temporal Coordination ◽

Arabic Word ◽

Moroccan Arabic ◽

Target Words

Previous research on the organization of syllable-structure, relying on the timing of the articulators suggests that though both English and Moroccan Arabic have word-initial consonant clusters, Moroccan Arabic does not have complex onsets, while English does (Browman and Goldstein, 1988; Byrd, 1995; Shaw et al., 2011). However, typically, such research employs expensive articulatory equipment. This limits the research to those who have access to such technology. Here, we advocate the use of the acoustic measurements with carefully selected stimuli. We conducted an experiment on 7 native speakers of Jazani Arabic, who produced 6 repetitions of 78 target words (34 real, 44 nonce), which varied in the number of onset consonant (C1, C2), and the sonority profiles. Similarly, to Moroccan Arabic, the results show that onset consonant alignments in Jazani Arabic are consistent with the simplex onset organization. Unlike Italian, the temporal pattern of Jazani Arabic remained the same, as simplex onsets across the sonority profiles. The study shows the effectiveness of acoustic measurements as a tool to understand syllabic organization, through studying the temporal co-ordination patterns.

Download Full-text

It is better an approximate answer to the right question than the exact answer to the wrong question : the case of the psychometric analysis of the ASQ:SE

10.31234/osf.io/a5tdf ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Luis Anunciacao ◽

janet squires ◽

J. Landeira-Fernandez

Keyword(s):

Internal Structure ◽

Statistical Methods ◽

Principal Component ◽

Psychological Theory ◽

Published Data ◽

Multivariate Statistical ◽

Exact Answer ◽

Wide Range ◽

Ages And Stages Questionnaire ◽

The Right

One of the main activities in psychometrics is to analyze the internal structure of a test. Multivariate statistical methods, including Exploratory Factor analysis (EFA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) are frequently used to do this, but the growth of Network Analysis (NA) places this method as a promising candidate. The results obtained by these methods are of valuable interest, as they not only produce evidence to explore if the test is measuring its intended construct, but also to deal with the substantive theory that motivated the test development. However, these different statistical methods come up with different answers, providing the basis for different analytical and theoretical strategies when one needs to choose a solution. In this study, we took advantage of a large volume of published data (n = 22,331) obtained by the Ages and Stages Questionnaire Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE), and formed a subset of 500 children to present and discuss alternative psychometric solutions to its internal structure, and also to its subjacent theory. The analyses were based on a polychoric matrix, the number of factors to retain followed several well-known rules of thumb, and a wide range of exploratory methods was fitted to the data, including EFA, PCA, and NA. The statistical outcomes were divergent, varying from 1 to 6 domains, allowing a flexible interpretation of the results. We argue that the use of statistical methods in the absence of a well-grounded psychological theory has limited applications, despite its appeal. All data and codes are available at https://osf.io/z6gwv/.

Download Full-text

Enzymes as a Reservoir of Host Defence Peptides

Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry ◽

10.2174/1568026620666200327173815 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (14) ◽

pp. 1310-1323

Author(s):

Andrea Bosso ◽

Antimo Di Maro ◽

Valeria Cafaro ◽

Alberto Di Donato ◽

Eugenio Notomista ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Innate Immunity ◽

Biological Activity ◽

Internal Structure ◽

Catalytic Properties ◽

Cellular Responses ◽

Host Defence ◽

Present Review ◽

Active Peptides ◽

Wide Range

Host defence peptides (HDPs) are powerful modulators of cellular responses to various types of insults caused by pathogen agents. To date, a wide range of HDPs, from species of different kingdoms including bacteria, plant and animal with extreme diversity in structure and biological activity, have been described. Apart from a limited number of peptides ribosomally synthesized, a large number of promising and multifunctional HDPs have been identified within protein precursors, with properties not necessarily related to innate immunity, consolidating the fascinating hypothesis that proteins have a second or even multiple biological mission in the form of one or more bio-active peptides. Among these precursors, enzymes constitute certainly an interesting group, because most of them are mainly globular and characterized by a fine specific internal structure closely related to their catalytic properties and also because they are yet little considered as potential HDP releasing proteins. In this regard, the main aim of the present review is to describe a panel of HDPs, identified in all canonical classes of enzymes, and to provide a detailed description on hydrolases and their corresponding HDPs, as there seems to exist a striking link between these structurally sophisticated catalysts and their high content in cationic and amphipathic cryptic peptides.

Download Full-text

The Structure of the Column in Stylidium

Australian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1071/bt9890081 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 81 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

N Findlay ◽

GP Findlay

Keyword(s):

Internal Structure ◽

Small Groups ◽

Central Layer ◽

Wide Range ◽

Single Column ◽

Cellulose Fibrils ◽

Shape And Size ◽

Fast Firing

In the genus Stylidium, the style and filaments of the flower are fused into a single column. In most species the column, when stimulated mechanically, undergoes a fast firing movement followed by a slow resetting movement. This movement is produced by changes in shape of a normally curved region of the column, the bend. In a wide range of species, the bend has a specialised anatomy and consists essentially of a longitudinal central layer of cells with two distinctive multi-celled layers of thick-walled cells on either side. The thick-walled cells are rich in cytoplasm with amyloplasts and vacuoles of varying sizes, and have non-lignified walls whose cellulose fibrils are arranged approximately transversely. Within the bend, the phloem occurs as discrete small groups of cells separated by some distance from the xylem. In species from the subgenus Centridium both the morphology and the internal structure of the bend differ somewhat from those in most species of Stylidium, and in two species of Stylidium with nonmoving columns, the characteristic cellular anatomy of the bend is entirely absent. The specialised anatomy of the cells and tissues in the bend are clearly associated with the movement of the column. Changes of shape and size of these cells are almost certainly responsible for the change in shape of the bend.

Download Full-text

Higher Education in Nepal

Pravaha ◽

10.3126/pravaha.v24i1.20229 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 96-108

Author(s):

Jitendra Prasad Upadhyay

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Research Design ◽

Capital Investment ◽

Life Time ◽

Cultural Development ◽

Specific Nature ◽

Quality Of Higher Education ◽

Analytical Research

Background - Higher education is very important for the development of the nation. It is recognized today as a capital investment and is of paramount importance for economic andsocial development of the country. Quality higher education is a source of great potential for the socio economic and cultural development of the country. The nation can be transformed into a developed nation within the life time of a single generation.Purpose – The purpose of the study is to study about the effectiveness of higher education of Nepal.Methodology – Due to the specific nature of the research objectives, descriptive cum analytical research design has been used.Findings – Higher Education in Nepal is satisfactory and every stakeholders of the Nepal have been satisfied with the performance of the higher education of Nepal.Practical Implications - This study has widely tested the effectiveness of the higher education in Nepal. It helps to improve the quality of higher education in Nepal.Pravaha Vol. 24, No. 1, 2018, page: 96-108

Download Full-text

The polyfunctional lexeme /fard/ in the Arabic dialects of Iraq and Khuzestan

Brill s Journal of Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics ◽

10.1163/18776930-20210005 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-44

Author(s):

Bettina Leitner ◽

Stefan Prochazka

Keyword(s):

Native Speakers ◽

Definite Article ◽

Epistemic Status ◽

Main Function ◽

Indefinite Article ◽

Text Corpora ◽

Wide Range ◽

High Degree ◽

Spoken Arabic ◽

Very High

Abstract The primary aim of this paper is to explore the functions of the word /fard/ in Iraqi and Khuzestani Arabic. The study is based on the analysis of various text corpora and the elicitation of further examples from native speakers of the varieties investigated. The analysis of these data has shown that /fard/ is a polyfunctional item. Its various functions are the result of several grammaticalization processes. In the first stage, the noun “individual” has become a quantifier that expresses singularity. From this stage it developed into an intensifier, a marker of approximation and the scalar adverb “only.” It has been demonstrated that, from its use as a presentative marker, it developed toward an indefinite article. In contrast to the definite article, which is a grammatical category in nearly every variety of Arabic, the use of an indefinite article is rarely found in spoken Arabic. In Iraqi and Khuzestani Arabic, /fard/ is an indefinite article that possesses a wide range of applications and only a limited set of constraints. Its use, however, remains optional to a very high degree. Its main function is that of a presentative—i.e., introducing a new referent into a discourse. In addition, it also functions as an individuation marker, as a marker for expressing the speaker’s epistemic status (knowledge/ignorance) regarding a referent, and indicating free choice from a set of potential referents. Related to this last function is its use as a mitigating device in imperatives and polite requests.

Download Full-text