Layering in structural-functional grammars

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Morphosyntax and its generation in Functional Discourse Grammar: what can be learned from Role and Reference Grammar?

The morphosyntactic level in Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG) is currently underdeveloped. The aim of the present paper is to make proposals relevant to the structure of the morphosyntactic level in this theory, and to how the interpersonal (pragmatic) and representational (semantic) levels of the grammatical component map on to it. These proposals rely heavily on a second structural-functional theory, Role and Reference Grammar (RRG). It is suggested that morphosyntactic structures in FDG need to be much more like the layered structures of RRG, and that given appropriate additions to the representational level which have been shown to be needed cross-linguistically, FDG could then adopt (or adapt) the semantics-to-syntax linking algorithms of RRG in order to provide a generative interfacing mechanism between the interpersonal and representational levels, on the one hand, and the morphosyntactic level on the other

Formulaic sequences in functional and cognitive linguistics

Este artículo intenta resolver la tensión entre un enfoque en el que las unidades léxicas se asocian con posiciones determinadas dentro de los marcos sintácticos, y otro que mantiene que gran parte del lenguaje está impregnado de piezas complejas recurrentes y reutilizables que muestran distintos grados de variabilidad y cuyos límites no están siempre definidos con claridad. Se describen las propiedades de tres secuencias formulaicas y se examinan cuatro enfoques lingüísticos y su capacidad para dar cuenta de estas propiedades. Se concluye que ninguno de estos enfoques es capaz de acomodar diferencias de prosodia semántica y se propone un modelo alternativo en el que patrones asociativos que funcionan en distintos niveles de descripción se interrelacionan según mecanismos de satisfacción de restricciones.This paper attempts to resolve the tension between an approach to language in which lexical items are matched individually with slots in frames provided by the syntax of a language, and one which holds that much of our language consists of recurrent, reusable multiword chunks, with differing degrees of variability, and often with rather ill-defined boundaries. The properties of three formulaic sequences are briefly described, and then four linguistic approaches are examined to determine to what extent they can account for these properties. It is concluded that all the approaches fail to accommodate semantic prosodies which can extend over ill-defined stretches of language. A model is proposed in which associative patterns at different levels of description are linked by constraint satisfaction mechanisms

A Reappraisal of the Functional Enterprise, with Particular Reference to Functional Discourse Grammar

Este artículo sugiere cuáles deberían ser las metas de la lingüística funcional, y argumenta que, aunque actualmente la Gramática Discursivo-Funcional (GDF) no cumple estos objetivos (y de hecho no pretende hacerlo), esta situación se podría remediar con la ampliación y modificación de algunas propuestas ya disponibles dentro de esta teoría. Se describen los criterios de adecuación descriptiva y explicativa necesarios para la lingüística funcional. Se describe brevemente la arquitectura de la GDF, se analizan los criterios de adecuación en relación con dicha teoría, y se hacen sugerencias para el desarrollo de la arquitectura actual, prestando especial atención a la ampliación del papel y del campo de aplicación de los Componentes Conceptual y Contextual a fin de responder a la pregunta fundamental de cómo opera el usuario de una lengua natural.This paper suggests what the goals of functional linguistics should be, and argues that although at present Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG) does not achieve some of these goals (and is indeed not intended to do so), this situation could be remedied by the expansion and modification of proposals already available within the theory. The paper discusses criteria of descriptive and explanatory adequacy in functional linguistics. The architecture of FDG is described briefly, and the various criteria of adequacy are discussed in relation to the theory, with suggestions for how the existing architecture could be developed, in particular expanding the role and scope of the Conceptual and Contextual Components, in order to answer the fundamental question of how the natural language user work

Severe Lumbar Disability Is Associated With Decreased Psoas Cross-Sectional Area in Degenerative Spondylolisthesis

Study Design: Retrospective cohort. Objectives: Alterations in lumbar paraspinal muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) may correlate with lumbar pathology. The purpose of this study was to compare paraspinal CSA in patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis and severe lumbar disability to those with mild or moderate lumbar disability, as determined by the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 101 patients undergoing lumbar fusion for degenerative spondylolisthesis. Patients were divided into ODI score ≤40 (mild/moderate disability, MMD) and ODI score \u3e40 (severe disability, SD) groups. The total CSA of the psoas and paraspinal muscles were measured on preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Results: There were 37 patients in the SD group and 64 in the MMD group. Average age and body mass index were similar between groups. For the paraspinal muscles, we were unable to demonstrate any significant differences in total CSA between the groups. Psoas muscle CSA was significantly decreased in the SD group compared with the MMD group (1010.08 vs 1178.6 mm2, P =.041). Multivariate analysis found that psoas CSA in the upper quartile was significantly protective against severe disability (P =.013). Conclusions: We found that patients with severe lumbar disability had no significant differences in posterior lumbar paraspinal CSA when compared with those with mild/moderate disability. However, severely disabled patients had significantly decreased psoas CSA, and larger psoas CSA was strongly protective against severe disability, suggestive of a potential association with psoas atrophy and worsening severity of lumbar pathology. © The Author(s) 2018

Mid-infrared Period-Luminosity Relations of RR Lyrae Stars Derived from the WISE Preliminary Data Release

Interstellar dust presents a significant challenge to extending parallax-determined distances of optically observed pulsational variables to larger volumes. Distance ladder work at mid-infrared wavebands, where dust effects are negligible and metallicity correlations are minimized, have been largely focused on few-epoch Cepheid studies. Here we present the first determination of mid-infrared period-luminosity (PL) relations of RR Lyrae stars from phase-resolved imaging using the preliminary data release of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). We present a novel statistical framework to predict posterior distances of 76 well-observed RR Lyrae that uses the optically constructed prior distance moduli while simultaneously imposing a power-law PL relation to WISE-determined mean magnitudes. We find that the absolute magnitude in the bluest WISE filter is M_W1 = (-0.421+-0.014) - (1.681+-0.147)*log(P/0.50118 day), with no evidence for a correlation with metallicity. Combining the results from the three bluest WISE filters, we find that a typical star in our sample has a distance measurement uncertainty of 0.97% (statistical) plus 1.17% (systematic). We do not fundamentalize the periods of RRc stars to improve their fit to the relations. Taking the Hipparcos-derived mean V-band magnitudes, we use the distance posteriors to determine a new optical metallicity-luminosity relation which we present in Section 5. The results of this analysis will soon be tested by HST parallax measurements and, eventually, with the Gaia astrometric mission.Comment: 33 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ, June 27th, 201

Oscillation frequencies and mode lifetimes in alpha Centauri A

We analyse our recently-published velocity measurements of alpha Cen A (Butler et al. 2004). After adjusting the weights on a night-by-night basis in order to optimize the window function to minimize sidelobes, we extract 42 oscillation frequencies with l=0 to 3 and measure the large and small frequency separations. We give fitted relations to these frequencies that can be compared with theoretical models and conclude that the observed scatter about these fits is due to the finite lifetimes of the oscillation modes. We estimate the mode lifetimes to be 1-2 d, substantially shorter than in the Sun.Comment: Accepted by Ap

A Bayesian Approach to Calibrating Period-Luminosity Relations of RR Lyrae Stars in the Mid-Infrared

A Bayesian approach to calibrating period-luminosity (PL) relations has substantial benefits over generic least-squares fits. In particular, the Bayesian approach takes into account the full prior distribution of the model parameters, such as the a priori distances, and refits these parameters as part of the process of settling on the most highly-constrained final fit. Additionally, the Bayesian approach can naturally ingest data from multiple wavebands and simultaneously fit the parameters of PL relations for each waveband in a procedure that constrains the parameter posterior distributions so as to minimize the scatter of the final fits appropriately in all wavebands. Here we describe the generalized approach to Bayesian model fitting and then specialize to a detailed description of applying Bayesian linear model fitting to the mid-infrared PL relations of RR Lyrae variable stars. For this example application we quantify the improvement afforded by using a Bayesian model fit. We also compare distances previously predicted in our example application to recently published parallax distances measured with the Hubble Space Telescope and find their agreement to be a vindication of our methodology. Our intent with this article is to spread awareness of the benefits and applicability of this Bayesian approach and encourage future PL relation investigations to consider employing this powerful analysis method.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure. Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Science. Following a presentation at the conference The Fundamental Cosmic Distance Scale: State of the Art and the Gaia Perspective, Naples, May 201