Bound person forms in ditransitive clauses revisited.

In a recent article Gensler (2003) has argued that little can be said about the ordering of bound person markers of the T(heme) and R(ecipient) relative to each other or relative to the verb stem apart from the fact that the outer markers are likely to be the result of a second-level cliticization process. We take issue with this claim and document that quite successful predictions with respect to the ordering of the T and R markers can be made on the basis of morphological alignment. Taking as our point of departure the typology of ditransitive alignment outlined in Haspelmath (2004; 2005), we show that the ordering patterns in which the R is placed closer to the verbal stem than the T are favoured in all relevant alignment types apart from the indirective, which exhibits a preference for positioning the T closer to the verbal stem than the R. These preferences for the ordering of the R and T are argued to relate directly to the frequency of use of the relative person forms and thus are seen as constituting yet another piece of evidence for the usage-based model of grammar being developed within the functional-cognitive typological paradigm (cf. e.g. Barlow & Kemmer 2000; Bybee & Hopper 2001; Tomasello 2003)

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GRAMMATICAL FUNCTIONS IN FUNCTIONAL DISCOURSE GRAMMAR

underlying representation in a more or less across the board fashion, only taking into consideration the language dependent semantic function hierarchy. This approach bypasses a number of constraints on subject assignment that may be gathered from typological data, and observed from the actual behaviour of speakers. In this contribution, we make an attempt to reinterpret FG syntactic functions in the light of the FDG model. Following ideas from Givón (1997), we propose a treatment of Subject assignment on the basis of a combination of semantic and pragmatic factors of the relevant referents and other functional aspects of underlying representations. The assignment rules adhere to the respective hierarchies as discussed in the typological literature. In our proposal, Subject (and Object) assignment are now located in the expression component, more specifically in the dynamic version of the expression rules as proposed in Bakker (2001)

The effect of HIV, behavioural change, and STD syndromic management on STD epidemiology in sub-Saharan Africa: simulations of Uganda

An assessment was made of how the HIV epidemic may have influenced sexually transmitted disease (STD) epidemiology in Uganda, and how HIV would affect the effectiveness of syndromic STD treatment programmes during different stages of the epidemic. The dynamic transmission model STDSIM was used to simulate the spread of HIV and four bacterial and one viral STD. Model parameters were quantified using demographic, behavioural, and epidemiological data from rural Rakai and ot

Diagnostic stewardship: sense or nonsense?!

The right test at the right time for the right patient to answer the right questions and to start the right treatment - many important decisions have to be made involving multiple medical specialists. The importance of appropriate and timely diagnostics to guide this process (stewardship) are obvious but are often neglected in classic stewardship concepts of infection management.We describe the approach of a multidisciplinary, intertwined stewardship concept with a focus on diagnostics, where medical specialists in general and medical microbiologists in particular closely interact for optimal quality of care and patient safety in successful infection management. Diagnostics in medical microbiology laboratories are advancing fast with regards to new technologies and improved workflows. Yet, diagnostics in infection management is broader than this and cover many clinical areas where communication and interaction are the key to make the best use of knowledge and expertise that all specialisms can contribute to patient care. These aspects are demonstrated in two cases of patients with prosthetic joint infections with two very different outcomes