Syntactic Variation and Auxiliary Contraction: The Surprising Case of Scots

This article is concerned with the distribution of contracted auxiliaries in English, in particular the re- striction against their occurrence in the immediate context of a gap created by movement or ellipsis. We document apparent exceptions to this restriction in varieties of Scots, all occurring in what we call the LOCATIVE DISCOVERY EXPRESSION. We analyse these as mirative constructions, and using new data from the Scots Syntax Atlas we describe patterns of variation in the acceptance of auxiliary contractions in locative discovery expressions which provide clues as to the role of syntax in conditioning auxiliary contraction. Adapting the proposal in Wilder (1997), where contracted auxiliaries are prosodically incorporated into the following predicate, we provide an account in which the differences across dialects with respect to contraction are explained in terms of the availability of different abstract structures

Cross-linguistic evidence for cognitive universals in the noun phrase

Noun phrase word order varies cross-linguistically, however, two distributional asymmetries have attracted substantial attention (i.a., Greenberg 1963, Cinque 2005). First, the most common orders place adjectives closest to the noun, then numerals, then demonstratives (e.g., N-Adj- Num-Dem). Second, exceptions to this are restricted to post-nominal position (e.g., N-Dem- Num-Adj, but not Adj-Num-Dem-N). These observations have been argued to reflect constraints on cognition. Here we report two experiments, following work by Culbertson & Adger (2014), providing additional support for this claim. We taught English- and Thai-speaking participants artificial languages in which the position of modifiers relative to the noun differed from their native order (post-nominal position in English, pre-nominal in Thai). We trained participants on single-modifier phrases, and asked them to extrapolate to multiple modifier phrases. We found that both populations infer relative orders of modifiers that conform to the tendency for closest proximity of adjectives, then numerals, then demonstratives. Further, we show that Thai participants, learning pre-nominal modifiers, exhibit a stronger such preference. These results track the typology closely and are consistent with the claim that noun phrase word order reflects properties of human cognition. We discuss future research needed to rule out alternative explanations for our findings, including prior language experience

Experimental evidence for the influence of structure and meaning on linear order in the noun phrase

Recent work has used artificial language experiments to argue that hierarchical representations drive learners’ expectations about word order in complex noun phrases like these two green cars (Culbertson & Adger 2014; Martin, Ratitamkul, et al. 2019). When trained on a novel language in which individual modifiers come after the Noun, English speakers overwhelmingly assume that multiple nominal modifiers should be ordered such that Adjectives come closest to the Noun, then Numerals, then Demonstratives (i.e., N-Adj-Num-Dem or some subset thereof). This order transparently reflects a constituent structure in which Adjectives combine with Nouns to the exclusion of Numerals and Demonstratives, and Numerals combine with Noun+Adjective units to the exclusion of Demonstratives. This structure has also been claimed to derive frequency asymmetries in complex noun phrase order across languages (e.g., Cinque 2005). However, we show that features of the methodology used in these experiments potentially encourage participants to use a particular metalinguistic strategy that could yield this outcome without implicating constituency structure. Here, we use a more naturalistic artificial language learning task to investigate whether the preference for hierarchy-respecting orders is still found when participants do not use this strategy. We find that the preference still holds, and, moreover, as Culbertson & Adger (2014) speculate, that its strength reflects structural distance between modifiers. It is strongest when ordering Adjectives relative to Demonstratives, and weaker when ordering Numerals relative to Adjectives or Demonstratives relative to Numerals. Our results provide the strongest evidence yet for the psychological influence of hierarchical structure on word order preferences during learning

Adaptation to flooding in low‐income urban settlements in the least developed countries: A systems approach

This study aims to use a whole systems approach (1) to understand the processes of adaptation to flooding of the urban poor; (2) to identify new knowledge of how low‐income settlements might better adapt to climatic risks; and (3) to begin to develop appropriate guidance on this. Low‐income urban settlements in the least developed countries (LDCs) present an extreme case where catastrophic natural hazards and chronic social hazards overlap. These low‐income urban populations face the greatest adaptation challenges as they often occupy informal settlements that are particularly exposed to hazards, and have multiple vulnerabilities arising from their lack of basic services. There is a dynamic complexity of issues arising from the many levels of actor involved and multiple social and physical factors. Analysing such a complex phenomenon calls for a specific conceptual framing, and a systems theory approach is suggested to provide a holistic perspective. The case study for this research is located in Dhaka East, where there is both high vulnerability to flooding, and a significant low‐income population. The research has adopted a mixed methods approach involving different data collection methods governed by the different scales and actors being investigated. The research develops new systems understandings of perceptions and experiences of the local population about adaptation processes in low‐income urban settlements, and how these processes may be positively influenced by integrating bottom‐up and top‐down approaches

Spatial and temporal dynamics of multidimensional well-being, livelihoods and ecosystem services in coastal Bangladesh.

Published onlineJournal ArticlePopulations in resource dependent economies gain well-being from the natural environment, in highly spatially and temporally variable patterns. To collect information on this, we designed and implemented a 1586-household quantitative survey in the southwest coastal zone of Bangladesh. Data were collected on material, subjective and health dimensions of well-being in the context of natural resource use, particularly agriculture, aquaculture, mangroves and fisheries. The questionnaire included questions on factors that mediate poverty outcomes: mobility and remittances; loans and micro-credit; environmental perceptions; shocks; and women's empowerment. The data are stratified by social-ecological system to take into account spatial dynamics and the survey was repeated with the same respondents three times within a year to incorporate seasonal dynamics. The dataset includes blood pressure measurements and height and weight of men, women and children. In addition, the household listing includes basic data on livelihoods and income for approximately 10,000 households. The dataset facilitates interdisciplinary research on spatial and temporal dynamics of well-being in the context of natural resource dependence in low income countries.The authors gratefully acknowledge the residents of Khulna and Barisal who gave up many hours of their time to be interviewed on multiple occasions. We are indebted to their generosity and patience. In addition we would like to acknowledge the important contribution of Tauhida Nasrin and colleagues at Associates for Community and Population Research and the team of enumerators who ensured the smooth implementation of the survey; Masfiqus Salehin and Rezaur Rahman at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Munir Ahmed at Technological Assistance for Rural Advancement and Hamidul Huq at University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh for their assistance in defining the social-ecological systems; Mahin Al Nahian for his assistance in implementing the survey; Rakin Muhtadee Shihab for completing the final translation of the questionnaire to Bengali; Munir Ahmed, Abir Ahammad Talukdar and Ali Mohammad Rezaie for assistance with qualitative fieldwork and pretesting; Abul Kashem Mohammad Hasan at the Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services and Muhammad Zahirul Haq at icddr,b for the GIS work. The survey was part of the project Assessing Health, Livelihoods, Ecosystem Services And Poverty Alleviation In Populous Deltas (Espa Deltas; Grant No. NE/J000892/1), part of the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme. The ESPA programme is funded by the Department for International Development, the Economic and Social Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council. Helen Adams had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis

Governing for a Healthy Population: Towards an Understanding of How Decision-Making Will Determine Our Global Health in a Changing Climate

Enhancing the adaptive capacity of individuals, communities, institutions and nations is pivotal to protecting and improving human health and well-being in the face of systemic social inequity plus dangerous climate change. However, research on the determinants of adaptive capacity in relation to health, particularly concerning the role of governance, is in its infancy. This paper highlights the intersections between global health, climate change and governance. It presents an overview of these key concerns, their relation to each other, and the potential that a greater understanding of governance may present opportunities to strengthen policy and action responses to the health effects of climate change. Important parallels between addressing health inequities and sustainable development practices in the face of global environmental change are also highlighted. We propose that governance can be investigated through two key lenses within the earth system governance theoretical framework; agency and architecture. These two governance concepts can be evaluated using methods of social network research and policy analysis using case studies and is the subject of further research

Characterising food insecurity in pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in Uganda using a consumption coping strategy index

We explore the utility of a consumption coping strategy index (CSI) in characterising and assessing the factors influencing household food insecurity. We assessed 53 pastoral and 197 agro-pastoral households in Nakasongola and Nakaseke districts of Uganda, examining the use of 27 consumption coping strategies over a recall time of two 30-day periods, one at the start of a dry season in 2012 and one at the start of a rainy season in 2013. Four categorical food insecurity status measures were established - food secure (CSI 0 to 5) and mildly (CSI 6 to 20), moderately (CSI 21 to 42) and extremely (CSI >42) food insecure. For the dry season, the mean CSI was 29.4 ± 2.59 and 33.6 % of households were food secure, while for the rains, mean CSI was 33.1 ± 2.30 and 14.0 % of households were food secure. The combination of livelihood system, land holdings, number of livestock owned and belonging to a social network explained 9.4 % to 10 % of the variance in household food insecurity for agro-pastoralists, but variance for pastoralists was not explained by these factors. While the only highly significant factor associated with increasing household food insecurity in the dry season was low landholdings, in the rainy season, it was pastoral livelihood, low livestock holdings for agro-pastoralists and non-involvement in social networks. While our model identified a number of factors important in describing household food insecurity, it explained only about 10 % of the variance

Changing social contracts in climate-change adaptation

Risks from extreme weather events are mediated through state, civil society and individual action 1 , 2 . We propose evolving social contracts as a primary mechanism by which adaptation to climate change proceeds. We use a natural experiment of policy and social contexts of the UK and Ireland affected by the same meteorological event and resultant flooding in November 2009. We analyse data from policy documents and from household surveys of 356 residents in western Ireland and northwest England. We find significant differences between perceptions of individual responsibility for protection across the jurisdictions and between perceptions of future risk from populations directly affected by flooding events. These explain differences in stated willingness to take individual adaptive actions when state support retrenches. We therefore show that expectations for state protection are critical in mediating impacts and promoting longer-term adaptation. We argue that making social contracts explicit may smooth pathways to effective and legitimate adaptation