Language loss in bilingual speakers with Alzheimer's disease

PhD ThesisThis study investigated the changes in language and cognition in five bilingual speakers with Alzheimer's Disease over a period of twelve months. The pattern and rate of loss in English was compared to that of Afrikaans. The bilingual behaviour of language mixing was also investigated, as was the interaction between deteriorating cognitive skills and language functions. Data was collected at three time points (0 - 6 - 12 months) employing a battery of neuropsychological and language tests, and conversation analysis. It was predicted that where both languages were automatised to a similar extent, a similar pattern, severity and rate of loss would be evident across languages. This hypothesis was supported by results. It was also predicted that in cases where one language was less automatised than the other, the less automatised language (i.e. the language learnt later in life (L2) anchor the less proficient language) would be more severely impaired and would deteriorate at a faster rate than the fully automatised language (Li). Results revealed that while L2 was more impaired than Li for some speakers, for others, languages were similarly impaired/spared. These discrepancies were attributed to the fact that tests were not sensitive to inter-language differences near floor or ceiling. Results did not strongly support the second prediction that L2 would deteriorate at a faster rate. Ambiguous findings could be artefacts of the time window of examination, insensitive assessment tasks, and the heterogeneous nature of the population. With regards to language mixing behaviour, code switching mainly affected L2 interactions even though the extent of switching varied across speakers. The amount of language mixing increased for two participants over the year. With regards to a possible interaction between language and cognition, complex language tasks appeared to be more compromised by deteriorating neuropsychological support than less complex tasks, but the extent of this interaction varied across languages and across speakers. Finally, the overall profile of results suggested that a language learnt later in life will never become fully automatised, even if high levels of L2 proficiency had been attained in adulthood.Overseas Research Students Awar

Visualización del lenguaje a través de corpus

Digital version of the print publication, published in A Coruña: Universidade da Coruña, Servizo de Publicacións, 2010 (ISBN 978-84-9749-401-4)This book contains the papers presented at the Second International Conference on Corpus Linguistics held at the University of A Coruña in 2010 and organised by the MuStE group. The essays deal with different aspects of corpus linguistics both as a methodology and as a branch of Linguistics.[Abstract] The collection of essays we are presenting here are just a mere sample of the interest the topics relating to Corpus Linguistics have arisen everywhere. Such different topics as those related to Computational Linguistics found in “Obtaining computational resources for languages with scarce resources from closely related computationally-developed languages. The Galician and Portuguese case“ or “Corpus-Based Modelling of Lexical Changes in Manic Depression Disorders: The Case of Edgar Allan Poe” belonging to the field of Corpus and Literary Studies can be found in the ensuing pages. Almost all research areas can nowadays be investigated using Corpus Linguistics as a valid methodology. This is reason why Language Windowing through Corpora gathers papers dealing with discourse, variation and change, grammatical studies, lexicology and lexicography, corpus design, contrastive analyses, language acquisition and learning or translation. This work’s title aims at reflecting not only the great variety of topics gathered in it but also the worldwide interest awaken by the computer processing of language. In fact, researchers from many different institutions all over the world have contributed to this book. Apart from the twenty-two Spanish Universities, people from other Higher Education Institutions have authored and co-authored the essays contained here, namely, Russia, Venezuela, Brazil, UK, Finland, Portugal, Poland, Austria, Mexico, Thailand, Iran, the Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Turkey, China, Italy, Malaysia, Romania and Sweden. All these essays have been alphabetically arranged, by the names of their authors, in two parts. Part 1 contains the papers by authors from A to K and Part 2, those of authors from L to Z

The Genitive Ratio and its Applications

The genitive ratio (GR) is a novel method of classifying nouns as animate, concrete or abstract. English has two genitive (possessive) constructions: possessive-s (the boy's head) and possessive-of (the head of the boy). There is compelling evidence that preference for possessive-s is strongly influenced by the possessor's animacy. A corpus analysis that counts each genitive construction in three conditions (definite, indefinite and no article) confirms that occurrences of possessive-s decline as the animacy hierarchy progresses from animate through concrete to abstract. A computer program (Animyser) is developed to obtain results-counts from phrase-searches of Wikipedia that provide multiple genitive ratios for any target noun. Key ratios are identified and algorithms developed, with specific applications achieving classification accuracies of over 80%. The algorithms, based on logistic regression, produce a score of relative animacy that can be applied to individual nouns or to texts. The genitive ratio is a tool with potential applications in any research domain where the relative animacy of language might be significant. Three such applications exemplify that. Combining GR analysis with other factors might enhance established co-reference (anaphora) resolution algorithms. In sentences formed from pairings of animate with concrete or abstract nouns, the animate noun is usually salient, more likely to be the grammatical subject or thematic agent, and to co-refer with a succeeding pronoun or noun-phrase. Two experiments, online sentence production and corpus-based, demonstrate that the GR algorithm reliably predicts the salient noun. Replication of the online experiment in Italian suggests that the GR might be applied to other languages by using English as a 'bridge'. In a mental health context, studies have indicated that Alzheimer's patients' language becomes progressively more concrete; depressed patients' language more abstract. Analysis of sample texts suggests that the GR might monitor the prognosis of both illnesses, facilitating timely clinical interventions

White Matter Inflammation And Executive Dysfunction: Implications For Alzheimer Disease And Vascular Cognitive Impairment

White matter integrity is crucial to healthy executive function, the cognitive domain that enables functional independence. However, in the ageing brain, white matter is highly vulnerable. White matter inflammation increases with age and Alzheimer disease (AD), which disrupts the normal function of white matter. This may contribute to executive dysfunction, but the relationship between white matter inflammation and executive function has not been directly evaluated in ageing nor AD. White matter is also particularly vulnerable to cerebrovascular disease, corresponding with the common presentation of executive dysfunction in vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). Thus, white matter may be an important substrate by which vascular injury exacerbates the cognitive impact of comorbid AD pathology and cerebrovascular pathology. To study the relationship between age, pathogenic amyloid precursor protein (APP), white matter inflammation, cerebrovascular disease, and executive dysfunction, the transgenic rat model of AD (TgAPP21) was evaluated for astrocytosis, microgliosis and cognitive impairment. The TgAPP21 rat was found to demonstrate spontaneously increased white matter microglia activation, impaired reversal learning, and a regressive impairment of behavioural flexibility, a key subdomain of executive function. The TgAPP21 rat also developed a precocious increase in white matter microglia activation. However, this was not matched by a continued increase in behavioural inflexibility, suggesting a dynamic and age-dependent relationship between white matter inflammation and behavioural flexibility. Hypertension induced by chronic angiotensin-II infusion impaired both wildtype (Wt) and TgAPP21 rats’ working memory and behavioural flexibility. However, while Wt rats demonstrated a linear increase in white matter astrocytosis in response to blood pressure elevation, normotensive TgAPP21 rats already had an increased baseline level of white matter astrocytosis and further increase in response to hypertension was not observed. TgAPP21 rats also demonstrated a greater vulnerability to cerebrovascular disease, as focal striatal ischemic injury resulted in reduced set shifting efficiency. Thus, the TgAPP21 rat is an important model for studying the complex relationship between age, pathogenic APP, and cerebrovascular disease and their impact on executive dysfunction. These findings support the emerging significance of white matter inflammation and executive dysfunction in the pathophysiology of ageing, AD, and VCI

Contribution à la construction d’ontologies et à la recherche d’information : application au domaine médical

This work aims at providing efficient access to relevant information among the increasing volume of digital data. Towards this end, we studied the benefit from using ontology to support an information retrieval (IR) system.We first described a methodology for constructing ontologies. Thus, we proposed a mixed method which combines natural language processing techniques for extracting knowledge from text and the reuse of existing semantic resources for the conceptualization step. We have also developed a method for aligning terms in English and French in order to enrich terminologically the resulting ontology. The application of our methodology resulted in a bilingual ontology dedicated to Alzheimer’s disease.We then proposed algorithms for supporting ontology-based semantic IR. Thus, we used concepts from ontology for describing documents automatically and for query reformulation. We were particularly interested in: 1) the extraction of concepts from texts, 2) the disambiguation of terms, 3) the vectorial weighting schema adapted to concepts and 4) query expansion. These algorithms have been used to implement a semantic portal about Alzheimer’s disease. Further, because the content of documents are not always fully available, we exploited incomplete information for identifying the concepts, which are relevant for indexing the whole content of documents. Toward this end, we have proposed two classification methods: the first is based on the k nearest neighbors’ algorithm and the second on the explicit semantic analysis. The two methods have been evaluated on large standard collections of biomedical documents within an international challenge.Ce travail vise à permettre un accès efficace à des informations pertinentes malgré le volume croissant des données disponibles au format électronique. Pour cela, nous avons étudié l’apport d’une ontologie au sein d’un système de recherche d'information (RI).Nous avons tout d’abord décrit une méthodologie de construction d’ontologies. Ainsi, nous avons proposé une méthode mixte combinant des techniques de traitement automatique des langues pour extraire des connaissances à partir de textes et la réutilisation de ressources sémantiques existantes pour l’étape de conceptualisation. Nous avons par ailleurs développé une méthode d’alignement de termes français-anglais pour l’enrichissement terminologique de l’ontologie. L’application de notre méthodologie a permis de créer une ontologie bilingue de la maladie d’Alzheimer.Ensuite, nous avons élaboré des algorithmes pour supporter la RI sémantique guidée par une ontologie. Les concepts issus d’une ontologie ont été utilisés pour décrire automatiquement les documents mais aussi pour reformuler les requêtes. Nous nous sommes intéressés à : 1) l’identification de concepts représentatifs dans des corpus, 2) leur désambiguïsation, 3), leur pondération selon le modèle vectoriel, adapté aux concepts et 4) l’expansion de requêtes. Ces propositions ont permis de mettre en œuvre un portail de RI sémantique dédié à la maladie d’Alzheimer. Par ailleurs, le contenu des documents à indexer n’étant pas toujours accessible dans leur ensemble, nous avons exploité des informations incomplètes pour déterminer les concepts pertinents permettant malgré tout de décrire les documents. Pour cela, nous avons proposé deux méthodes de classification de documents issus d’un large corpus, l’une basée sur l’algorithme des k plus proches voisins et l’autre sur l’analyse sémantique explicite. Ces méthodes ont été évaluées sur de larges collections de documents biomédicaux fournies lors d’un challenge international

Discourse markers and code-switching: academic medical lectures in Saudi Arabia using English as the medium of instruction

This thesis is a corpus-based study of two spoken academic corpora in English as the (foreign) medium of instruction (EMI) context. The first corpus is compiled of transcripts of academic lectures by non-native speakers (NNS) from an EMI medical college in Saudi Arabia. To compare the data, a second corpus is compiled of similar transcripts by native speakers (NS) taken from the British Academic Spoken English (BASE) corpus. The first part of the research qualitatively and quantitatively investigates the use of English discourse markers (DMs) on two levels: Structural (e.g. okay, so, because) and Interactional (e.g. okay?, I mean, any questions?). Structural DMs are found to function frequently as Topic Initiators, Topic Developers, Summarizers, and Closers, and occur more frequently in NS lectures' discourse. Interactional DMs, which function as Confirmation Checks, Rephrasers and Elicitors, are found to occur more frequently in the NNS lectures. This thesis demonstrates that the uses of DMs by the NS and NNS lecturers are affected by discourse context, pedagogic goals, personal lecturing styles, interaction with students and the need to create a conducive learning environment. The second part explores the use of Arabic discourse markers (ADMs) in the NNS lecture discourse on similar Structural and Interactional levels. Interactional ADMs (e.g. ya3ni {means}, mufhoom? {understood}) have a higher overall frequency than Structural ADMs (fa {so}, laanu {because}). The third part of this thesis explores the pedagogical functions of English-Arabic code-switching (CS) in the NNS lectures. When the purpose of CS is to make meaning clearer and convey knowledge more efficiently, it is not a language barrier but an effective communicative strategy. The data shows that CS is used mainly in seven roles in the NNS lecture discourse: (1) solidarity, (2) reiteration, (3) elaboration, (4) topic, (5) elicitation, (6) checking comprehension and (7) classroom management

MUSIC THERAPY IN THE COGNITIVE AND NEURAL REHABILITATION OF TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can have lifelong cognitive, emotional, and physical consequences. Music engages many cognitive, motor, and emotional functions making it a promising rehabilitation tool, but the effects of music in TBI are still largely unknown. The aim of this thesis was to explore the efficacy of neurological music therapy in the rehabilitation of moderate and severe TBI, particularly on executive functions (EF). The thesis includes three studies based on a cross-over randomized controlled trial (RCT), in which 40 participants with TBI (time since injury < 2 years) were randomized into two groups (AB/BA) to receive a 3-month neurological music therapy intervention either during the first (AB, n=20) or second (BA, n=20) half of a 6-month follow-up period. Neuropsychological and motor testing, questionnaires, and structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were performed at baseline and at the 3-month and 6-month stage. Results from Study I showed that general EF and set shifting improved more in the AB group than in the BA group over the first 3-month period, and the effect on general EF was maintained in the 6-month follow-up. Voxel-based morphometry analysis of the structural MRI data indicated that gray matter volume in the right inferior frontal gyrus increased significantly in both groups during the intervention versus control period, which also correlated with cognitive improvement in set shifting ability. Findings from Study II reporting the questionnaire data showed that the Behavioural Regulation Index of the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-A) improved more in the AB than BA group from baseline to 3-month stage, and the effect was maintained in the 6-month follow-up. Finally, Study III explored functional connectivity patterns using resting-state functional MRI and revealed both changes towards increased and decreased functional connectivity within and between several networks. Importantly, behavioral improvements in EF correlated with resting-state functional connectivity changes within the frontoparietal network and between the default mode and sensorimotor networks. All in all, these results suggest that neurological music therapy enhances EF skills, including general EF, set shifting ability and behavioral self-regulation, after TBI and that these gains are linked to volumetric and functional neuroplastic changes in the brain. These novel findings give support to the use of music therapy in rehabilitation of moderate and severe TBI.Traumaattinen aivovaurio on varsin yleinen toimintakykyä alentava vamma, joka voi aiheuttaa elinikäisiä kognitiivisia, emotionaalisia ja fyysisiä oireita. Musiikki on monimuotoinen ja motivoiva toiminto, joka aktivoi useita kognitiivisia, motorisia ja emotionaalisia aivoverkostoja, mikä tekee siitä lupaavan hoitomuodon neurologisessa. Musiikin vaikuttavuutta aivovammakuntoutuksessa on kuitenkin toistaiseksi selvitetty varsin vähän. Tässä väitöskirjassa tutkitaan neurologisen musiikkiterapian vaikuttavuutta keskivaikeiden ja vaikeiden aivovammojen hoidossa ja erityisesti toiminnanohjaustaitojen kuntoutuksessa. Tähän tutkimukseen rekrytointiin 40 potilasta, joiden vammautumisesta oli kulunut alle 2 vuotta ja heidät satunnaistettiin kahteen ryhmään AB/BA. Ensimmäinen ryhmä (AB, n=20) sai neurologista musiikkiterapiaa 6 kuukauden seurantajakson alkupuoliskolla (3 kk) ja toinen ryhmä (BA, n=20) sai intervention seurantajakson jälkimmäisellä puoliskolla. Mittaukset, mukaan lukien neuropsykologiset ja motoriset testaukset, kyselylomakkeet sekä strukturaalinen ja funktionaalinen magneettikuvaus, suoritettiin alussa, 3 kuukauden ja 6 kuukauden kohdalla. Tutkimuksen I tulokset osoittavat, että yleiset toiminnanohjaustaidot (Frontal Assessment Battery -testistöllä arvioituna) sekä erityisesti kognitiivisen prosessoinnin joustavuus (Number-Letter Task -testillä testattuna) paranivat AB-ryhmässä BA-ryhmään verrattuna seurantajakson alkupuoliskolla ja positiivinen vaikutus yleisiin toiminnanohjaustaitoihin säilyi vielä 6 kuukauden seurannassa. Myös harmaan aineen volyymi oikealla alemmalla otsolohkopoimulla kasvoi merkittävästi molemmissa ryhmissä interventiojaksolla verrattuna kontrollijaksoon. Tämä harmaan aineen lisääntyminen korreloi kognitiivisen suorituksen kanssa prosessoinnin joustavuutta vaativassa tehtävässä. Tutkimuksessa II, jossa raportoidaan kyselylomakkeiden tulokset, osoitetaan että itse raportoitu käyttäytymisen säätely Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-A) mittarissa kohentui enemmän AB- kuin BA-ryhmässä ensimmäisen kolmen kuukauden seurannan aikana ja saavutettu taso säilyi vielä 6 kuukauden seurannassa. Tutkimuksessa III selvitettiin aivojen toiminnallisissa verkostoissa musiikkiterapian vaikutuksesta tapahtuneita muutoksia, joita mitattiin lepotilaverkostojen toiminnallisella magneettikuvauksella. Tulokset osoittavat, että useiden lepotilaverkostojen sisällä ja välillä tapahtui joko yhteyksien vahvistumista tai rauhoittumista. Muutokset toiminnanohjaustaidoissa korreloivat frontoparietaalisen verkoston sisällä sekä oletustilaverkoston ja sensorimotoristen verkkojen välillä tapahtuvien funktionaalisten muutosten kanssa. Kokonaisuudessaan nämä tulokset osoittavat, että aivovamman jälkeen musiikkiterapia kohentaa toiminnanohjaustaitoja mukaan lukien yleistä toiminnanohjausta, kognitiivisen prosessoinnin joustavuutta sekä käyttäytymisen säätelyä ja nämä muutokset ovat yhteydessä aivojen rakenteellisiin ja toiminnallisiin neuroplastisiin muutoksiin. Nämä uudet tulokset tukevat musiikkiterapian hyödyntämistä keskivaikeiden ja vaikeiden aivovammojen kuntoutuksessa

Proceedings of the Seventh Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics CLiC-it 2020

On behalf of the Program Committee, a very warm welcome to the Seventh Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics (CLiC-it 2020). This edition of the conference is held in Bologna and organised by the University of Bologna. The CLiC-it conference series is an initiative of the Italian Association for Computational Linguistics (AILC) which, after six years of activity, has clearly established itself as the premier national forum for research and development in the fields of Computational Linguistics and Natural Language Processing, where leading researchers and practitioners from academia and industry meet to share their research results, experiences, and challenges