Focus Particles Strongly Draw Attachment

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/student_scholarship_posters/1023/thumbnail.jp

Accents and prosodic phrasing influence wh-question interpretation

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/student_scholarship_posters/1133/thumbnail.jp

Interpreting the mammal deposits of Cloggs Cave (SE Australia), GunaiKurnai Aboriginal Country, through community-led partnership research

Palaeontological animal bone deposits are rarely investigated through research partnerships where the local First Nations communities have a defining hand in both the research questions asked and the research processes. Here we report research undertaken through such a partnership approach at the iconic archaeological site of Cloggs Cave (GunaiKurnai Country, East Gippsland), in the southern foothills of SE Australia's Great Dividing Range. A new excavation was combined with detailed chronometric dating, high-resolution 3D mapping and geomorphological studies. This allowed interpretation of a sequence of stratigraphic layers spanning from a lowermost excavated mixed layer dated to between 25,640 and 48,470 cal BP, to a dense set of uppermost, ash layers dated to between 1460 and 3360 cal BP. This long and well-dated chronostratigraphic sequence enabled temporal trends in the abundant small mammal remains to be examined. The fossil assemblage consists of at least 31 taxa of mammals which change in proportions through time. Despite clear evidence that the Old Ancestors repeatedly carried vegetation into the cave to fuel cool fires (no visible vegetation grows in Cloggs Cave), we observed little to no evidence of cooking fires or calcined bone, suggesting that people had little involvement with the accumulation of the faunal remains. Small mammal bones were most likely deposited in the cave by large disc-faced owls, Tyto novaehollandae (Masked Owl) or Tyto tenebricosa (Sooty Owl). Despite being well dated and largely undisturbed, the Cloggs Cave assemblage does not appear to track known Late Quaternary environmental change. Instead, the complex geomorphology of the area fostered a vegetation mosaic that supported mammals with divergent habitat preferences. The faunal deposit suggests a local ancestral landscape characterised by a resilient mosaic of habitats that persisted over thousands of years, signalling that the Old Ancestors burned landscape fires to encourage and manage patches of different vegetation types and ages within and through periods of climate change

Geomorphological context and formation history of Cloggs Cave: What was the cave like when people inhabited it?

New research undertaken at Cloggs Cave, in the foothills of the Australian Alps, employed an integrated geological-geomorphological-archaeological approach with manifold dating methods and fine resolution LiDAR 3D mapping. Long-standing questions about the site’s chronostratigraphy (e.g. the exact relationship between basal megafaunal deposits and archaeological layers), sedimentation processes and geomorphic changes were resolved. The cave’s formation history was reconstructed to understand its changing morphology and morphogenic processes, and to clarify how these processes shaped the cave’s deposits. Key findings include the identification of: 1) the geomorphological processes that caused the lateral juxtaposition of 52,000 year-old megafaunal and later occupational layers; 2) the existence of one and possibly two (now-buried) palaeo-entrance(s) that enabled now-extinct megafauna and extant large fauna to enter the cave, most likely via a free-roaming passage rather than a pit drop; 3) morphological changes to the cave during the time of the Old People, including the timing of changes to the inclination of palaeo-surfaces; and 4) modifications to stalactites, crushing of calcite formations for the manufacture of powder, construction of a stone arrangement, and movement of large limestone blocks by the Old People. Ultimately, these findings demonstrate that to properly understand what Cloggs Cave was like when the Old People visited the site requires the construction of a narrative that spans some 400 million years and the development of an approach capable of integrating the many scales and processes (e.g. geological, geomorphological, archaeological) that configured to shape the site

Distinct genetic changes reveal evolutionary history and heterogeneous molecular grade of DLBCL with MYC / BCL2 double-hit

Abstract: Using a Burkitt lymphoma-like gene expression signature, we recently defined a high-risk molecular high-grade (MHG) group mainly within germinal centre B-cell like diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (GCB-DLBCL), which was enriched for MYC/BCL2 double-hit (MYC/BCL2-DH). The genetic basis underlying MHG-DLBCL and their aggressive clinical behaviour remain unknown. We investigated 697 cases of DLBCL, particularly those with MYC/BCL2-DH (n = 62) by targeted sequencing and gene expression profiling. We showed that DLBCL with MYC/BCL2-DH, and those with BCL2 translocation, harbour the characteristic mutation signatures that are associated with follicular lymphoma and its high-grade transformation. We identified frequent MYC hotspot mutations that affect the phosphorylation site (T58) and its adjacent amino acids, which are important for MYC protein degradation. These MYC mutations were seen in a subset of cases with MYC translocation, but predominantly in those of MHG. The mutations were more frequent in double-hit lymphomas with IG as the MYC translocation partner, and were associated with higher MYC protein expression and poor patient survival. DLBCL with MYC/BCL2-DH and those with BCL2 translocation alone are most likely derived from follicular lymphoma or its precursor lesion, and acquisition of MYC pathogenic mutations may augment MYC function, resulting in aggressive clinical behaviour

Koey Ngurtai: the emergence of a ritual domain in Western Torres Strait

Koey Ngurtai is a small, uninhabited island located midway between the residential islands of Badu and Mahuyag in western Torres Strait. In 2003 and 2004, 100% surveys of the islet revealed 166 cultural sites. Fifty archaeological excavations were undertaken, revealing a rich history of islet use culminating with the emergence of Koey Ngurtai as a ritual centre after 550-700 cal BP, and a proliferation of ritual structures focused on dugong hunting magic after 350-550 cal BP. Shortly after the arrival of colonial powers in Torres Strait in the 1870s. including pearl shelling and missionary activity, Koey Ngurtai's ritual status was again transformed. This paper reports on these archaeological investigations and historicises Koey Ngurtai as a ritual land-and-seascap

Accents and Focus Particles Draw Attachment

Accents and Focus Particles Draw Attachment Joe Castle & Dr. Katy Carlson, English Department There is growing evidence that pitch accents can affect syntactic attachment in ambiguous sentences (Schafer et al. 1996; Lee & Watson 2011; Carlson & Tyler 2015). One explanation is that the focus status of the accented word makes it important to the main sentence assertion and thus draws attachment (Schafer et al. 1996). Our experiment therefore tested whether other means of focusing words, such as the focus particle only, could also affect attachment. In the experiment, 20 sentences (e.g., Susie (only) learned that Bill (only) arrived # on Friday) had the focus particle only before V1 (learned) or V2 (arrived); two further conditions also accented the verb with the particle. Participants (N=52) chose between paraphrases showing V1 or V2 attachment of the final adverbial phrase, on Friday (either Susie learned something on Friday or Bill arrived on Friday). Only on V1 led to over 60% V1 attachments; only on V2 led to 35% V1 attachments, a significant difference. Accents on either verb raised V1 attachments slightly. The non-significant effect of accent suggests that focus from one indicator makes another one redundant. This research shows that in sentences not thought to be focus-sensitive, emphasis indicated by accent or particle position can have important consequences for syntactic structure, and therefore for meaning. This contributes to a broader project of understanding how prosodic factors like emphasis function in sentence processing