Possessive expressions in Danish and Swedish in a diachronic and synchronic perspective

Wydział NeofilologiiPrzedmiotem rozprawy są nominalne wyrażenia dzierżawcze w językach duńskim i szwedzkim analizowane w ujęciu diachronicznym i synchronicznym. Do analizowanych konstrukcji dzierżawczych należą: dopełniacz -s, konstrukcja dzierżawcza z przyimkami, zaimki dzierżawcze zwykłe oraz zwrotne. Głównym celem naukowym projektu jest zbadanie dystrybucji oraz cech charakterystycznych wymienionych konstrukcji dzierżawczych ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem czynników, które mogą wpływać na wybór między dopełniaczem -s a konstrukcją przyimkową w językach duńskim i szwedzkim. Do badanych czynników należą między innymi żywotność, określoność, topikalność, długość grupy nominalnej oraz typ relacji dzierżawczej. Tło teoretyczne dysertacji opiera się na założeniach Gramatyki Funkcjonalnej, w szczególności zastosowane zostały pojęcia hierarchii żywotności, ikoniczności i ekonomii w języku oraz topikalności. Badania oparte zostały na korpusach duńskich i szwedzkich tekstów historycznych spisanych w latach 1250–1700 oraz tekstów współczesnych. Korpus tekstów liczy ok. 315 000 słów. Wyniki jednoznacznie wskazują na to, że konstrukcja z dopełniaczem -s i konstrukcja przyimkowa występują w znacznej mierze w dystrybucji komplementarnej. Referent ludzki, określony i znany występuje częściej z dopełniaczem, natomiast referent nieżywotny, nieokreślony i nieznany występuje częściej w konstrukcji przyimkowej. Taki układ czynników odzwierciedla motywację ekonomiczną w języku.The aim of this dissertation is to examine the distribution and characteristics of adnominal possessive constructions in Danish and Swedish from both a diachronic and synchronic perspective. The constructions in question are the following: the s-genitive, the prepositional construction, and pronominal constructions with both regular and reflexive possessive pronouns. The main research objective is to examine the factors that may influence the selection of the s-genitive vs. the prepositional construction. Among the factors taken into consideration are animacy, definiteness, topicality, length of an NP and type of possessive relation. The theoretical approach taken in this dissertation is based on various tenets of Functional Grammar; in particular the concepts of animacy hierarchy, iconicity and economy in language and topicality are invoked. The research is based on a corpus of Danish and Swedish historical texts written between 1250 and 1700 and a corpus of contemporary texts. The length of the corpora is ca. 315,000 words. Results indicate that the s-genitive and the prepositional construction are largely in a complementary distribution in Danish and Swedish. While a human, definite and familiar referent will frequently occur in an s genitive construction, an inanimate, indefinite and new referent will frequently occur in a prepositional construction. Such an array of factors reflects the economic motivation in language

INALIENABLE POSSESSION IN SWEDISH AND DANISH – A DIACHRONIC PERSPECTIVE

In this paper we discuss the alienability splits in two Mainland Scandinavian languages, Swedish and Danish, in a diachronic context. Although it is not universally acknowledged that such splits exist in modern Scandinavian languages, many nouns typically included in inalienable structures such as kinship terms, body part nouns and nouns describing culturally important items show different behaviour from those considered alienable. The differences involve the use of (reflexive) possessive pronouns vs. the definite article, which differentiates the Scandinavian languages from e.g. English. As the definite article is a relatively new arrival in the Scandinavian languages, we look at when the modern pattern could have evolved by a close examination of possessive structures with potential inalienables in Old Swedish and Old Danish. Our results reveal that to begin with, inalienables are usually bare nouns and come to be marked with the definite article in the course of its grammaticalization

Alienability splits in Swedish from a diachronic perspective

The paper discusses possessive expressions with body-part nouns in Swedish (1300–1550) with particular focus on the so-called alienability splits, i.e., separate patterns of marking possession for alienable and inalienable entities. The key problem to be addressed is to what extent such splits can be found in Swedish and the aim of the study is to establish when they arise and what motivates their formation. The inalienable possessive constructions with bodypart referents in Modern Swedish include the so-called implicit possession, where only the definite article is used and the inalienable prepositional construction of the type ‘the head on him’. The analyzed material consists of Old Swedish prosaic texts written between 1300 and 1550. The corpus includes eight texts and amounts to ca. 250,000 words. The material is studied both quantitatively and qualitatively; collostructional analysis is used for the statistical overview of the data. The results of the collostructional analysis confirm that the implicit possessive construction first appears in Period II (1350–1450) and becomes grammaticalized in the late 1400s. The inalienable prepositional construction is not found in the material studied and thus must be of later origin. The results suggest further that the inalienable possessive constructions do not arise as a result of the speaker’s wish to disambiguate the notion of inalienability but are a by-product of other diachronic processes, such as the grammaticalization of the definite article in the indirect anaphoric context

Bibliografia Etnografii Polskiej (BEP) jako narzędzie pomocne w informacji naukowej i dydaktyce

The Bibliography of Polish Ethnography (BEP) has been online since 2007 and since that year has changed several times. At the technical level, the software was changed, which effected on the way how the editors work. At the level of functioning, the functionality of the database has been expanded by adding redirects from the database directly to the texts, if they are available in the public domain. The members of the editorial team also began to incorporate BEP into the didactic process. The paper presents the lessons learned from the work on modified database and the experience gained during didactics using BEP

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) - risk factor, diagnostic and current treatment

Introduction:  Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine and metabolic disorders in women in reproductive age, defined as a combination of signs and symptoms resulting from androgen excess and ovarian dysfunction in the absence of other specific diagnoses. PCOS is often associated with an increased risk of obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic disorders and cardiovascular events. The aim of the study: The purpose of this systemic review was to collect and analyze materials about risk factors, diagnostics, and the current treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome.Material and method: Review of the literature published in 2004-2018.Description of the state of knowledge: PCOS is characterized by an excessive secretion of androgens from the ovaries and / or adrenal glands. Intrinsic ovarian factors, such as altered steroidogenesis, and factors external to the ovary, such as hyperinsulinemia, contribute to the ovarian overproduction of androgens. PCOS requires careful selection of an appropriate diagnostic method and therapeutic approach to combat hyperandrogenism, a consequence of ovarian dysfunction and related metabolic disorders. Treatment of both women at risk of PCOS and those with a confirmed diagnosis of PCOS includes education, healthy lifestyle interventions and symptomatic therapeutic interventions.Summary:  PCOS is a complex disorder involving many organs and affecting many body functions. It is important to diagnose this disease as soon as possible in order to implement appropriately selected therapeutic treatment aimed at eliminating disease symptoms and reducing the systemic consequences of hyperandrogenism in patients

Folic acid supplementation among students

Introduction: Pregnancy is a period in which the supply of vitamins, micro- and macroelements is essential for the proper growth of the fetus. One of the most important substances, which is believed to have a considerable influence on the proper fetus growth is folic acid. Folic acid (i.e. vitamin B9) plays a significant role in rapidly dividing cells and lack of this vitamin causes serious fetal defects - for example neural tube anomalies. Supplementation is important not only during pregnancy but also during the period of pregnancy planning. Methods: Students' knowledge regarding the importance of folic acid supplementation was verified using anonymous Internet questionnaire. The obtained results were analyzed using statistical methods and checked on the basis of scientific literature. Results: The percentage of students who supply folic acid is 18,1% and only 9,5% do this regularly. The most common cause of supply is due to the fact that that folate can be found in vitamin kits students usually take. Part of respondents claim that they plan the pregnancy and want the fetus to develop correctly. Other causes of vitamin B9 intake is prevention of arteriosclerosis, vascular system diseases, anemia, lung, esophagus and uterus cancer. Conclusion: Outcomes showed that students are not fully aware of the importance of vitamin B9 during pregnancy and there is a great need to share knowledge about folic acid supplementation among people in procreative age

Inhibition of Shiga toxin-converting bacteriophage development by novel antioxidant compounds

Oxidative stress may be the major cause of induction of Shiga toxin-converting (Stx) prophages from chromosomes of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in human intestine. Thus, we aimed to test a series of novel antioxidant compounds for their activities against prophage induction, thus, preventing pathogenicity of STEC. Forty-six compounds (derivatives of carbazole, indazole, triazole, quinolone, ninhydrine, and indenoindole) were tested. Fifteen of them gave promising results and were further characterized. Eleven compounds had acceptable profiles in cytotoxicity tests with human HEK-293 and HDFa cell lines. Three of them (selected for molecular studies) prevent the prophage induction at the level of expression of specific phage genes. In bacterial cells treated with hydrogen peroxide, expression of genes involved in the oxidative stress response was significantly less efficient in the presence of the tested compounds. Therefore, they apparently reduce the oxidative stress, which prevents induction of Stx prophage in E. coli

Bibliografia Etnografii Polskiej (BEP) jako narzędzie pomocne w informacji naukowej i dydaktyce

The Bibliography of Polish Ethnography (BEP) has been online since 2007 and since that year has changed several times. At the technical level, the software was changed, which effected on the way how the editors work. At the level of functioning, the functionality of the database has been expanded by adding redirects from the database directly to the texts, if they are available in the public domain. The members of the editorial team also began to incorporate BEP into the didactic process. The paper presents the lessons learned from the work on modified database and the experience gained during didactics using BEP