Weak Prepositions in Tortosan Catalan : alternation of Prepositions, Allomorphy or Phonological Process

In this paper, starting from a brief analysis of weak prepositions in Tortosan. I try to show that the preposition a is the only one appearing in adjunct and indirect object PPs. This forces us to account for the form [an] which this preposition takes in certain contexts: specifically when it is followed by a vowel initial determiner or pronoun. After considering the alternative of accounting for the relation between the preposition a and the form [an] either in terms of prepositional allomorphy or in terms of epenthesis of the coronal nasal, I have chosen the latter option, since it allows us to explain similar processes affecting other prepositions (contra 'against', cap a 'towards' and per a 'for') and the privative prefix a. Optimal syllabification (CV syllable), which is a preferred but not obligatory condition in Catalan, would be, in its formulation as the Onset Principle, the trigger for this process of consonantic epenthesis, which essentially affects the domain [clitic+word] when the former is a determiner.En aquest article, i a partir d'una anàlisi breu de les preposicions febles del dialecte tortosí, intento demostrar que la preposició a és l'única que apareix en els complements circumstancials i en els indirectes. Aixb implica explicar la forma [an] que realitza l'esmentada preposició en certs contextos: concretament quan va seguida d'un determinant o d'un pronom començats en vocal. Davant la doble possibilitat d'explicar la relació entre la preposició a i la forma [an]: al·lomorfia preposicional i epèntesi de la vocal nasal, m'he decantat per aquesta segona via, ja que permet d'explicar processos similars que afecten altres preposicions (contra, cap a i per a) i el prefix privatiu a. La sil·labificació òptima (síl·laba CV) -preferent, però no obligatòria en català mitjançant l' Onset Principle, seria la causa d'aquest procés d'epèntesi consonàntica, que afecta bàsicament l'àmbit [clític+mot] quant el primer és un determinant

COD2: An Oral Dialectal Corpus for the analysis of spatial and temporal variations in Catalan

In this article we present the most relevant new aspects from the COD2 project, which is based on an oral dialectal corpus of contemporary Catalan created as a continuation of the first COD compiled two decades before. In the first place, the new project intends to analyze the changes undergone by the Catalan language during this period. In second place, we no longer center the linguistic analysis on the traditional generativist techniques but on the tenets of Optimality Theory. And, finally, we use new dialectometric techniques based principally on probabilistic analytical procedures

Applying the Levenshtein Distance to Catalan dialects: A brief comparison of two dialectometric approaches 1

Abstract. In recent years, dialectometry has gained interest among Catalan dialectologists. As a consequence, a specific dialectometric approach has been developed at the University of Barcelona, which aims at increasing the accuracy of final groupings by means of discriminating the predictable components of the language from its unpredictable ones. Another popular method to obtain dialect distances is the Levenshtein Distance (LD) which has never been applied to a Catalan corpus so far. The goal of this paper is to present the results of applying the LD to a corpus of Catalan linguistic data, and to compare the results from this analysis both with the results from Barcelona and the traditional classifications of Catalan dialectology. 1

A cluster-randomized trial of hydroxychloroquine for prevention of Covid-19

Background: current strategies for preventing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection are limited to nonpharmacologic interventions. Hydroxychloroquine has been proposed as a postexposure therapy to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), but definitive evidence is lacking. Methods: we conducted an open-label, cluster-randomized trial involving asymptomatic contacts of patients with polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR)-confirmed Covid-19 in Catalonia, Spain. We randomly assigned clusters of contacts to the hydroxychloroquine group (which received the drug at a dose of 800 mg once, followed by 400 mg daily for 6 days) or to the usual-care group (which received no specific therapy). The primary outcome was PCR-confirmed, symptomatic Covid-19 within 14 days. The secondary outcome was SARS-CoV-2 infection, defined by symptoms compatible with Covid-19 or a positive PCR test regardless of symptoms. Adverse events were assessed for up to 28 days. Results: the analysis included 2314 healthy contacts of 672 index case patients with Covid-19 who were identified between March 17 and April 28, 2020. A total of 1116 contacts were randomly assigned to receive hydroxychloroquine and 1198 to receive usual care. Results were similar in the hydroxychloroquine and usual-care groups with respect to the incidence of PCR-confirmed, symptomatic Covid-19 (5.7% and 6.2%, respectively; risk ratio, 0.86 [95% confidence interval, 0.52 to 1.42]). In addition, hydroxychloroquine was not associated with a lower incidence of SARS-CoV-2 transmission than usual care (18.7% and 17.8%, respectively). The incidence of adverse events was higher in the hydroxychloroquine group than in the usual-care group (56.1% vs. 5.9%), but no treatment-related serious adverse events were reported. Conclusions: postexposure therapy with hydroxychloroquine did not prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection or symptomatic Covid-19 in healthy persons exposed to a PCR-positive case patient. (Funded by the crowdfunding campaign YoMeCorono and others; BCN-PEP-CoV2 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04304053.)

Hydroxychloroquine for Early Treatment of Adults With Mild Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Randomized, Controlled Trial

No effective treatments for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) exist. We aimed to determine whether early treatment with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) would be efficacious for outpatients with COVID-19.The authors thank Gerard Carot-Sans, PhD, for providing medical writing support during the revisions of the subsequent drafts of the manuscript; the personnel from the Fights Aids and Infectious Diseases Foundation for their support in administration, human resources and supply chain management; Eric Ubals (Pierce AB) and Òscar Palao (Opentic) for website and database management; Óscar Camps and OpenArms nongovernmental organization for nursing home operations; and Anna Valentí and the Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol Human Resources Department for telephone monitoring. We thank Consorci Sanitari del Maresme, Centre Sociosanitari El Carme, l'Hospital General de Granollers and occupational hazards department of Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol for their contribution with patient enrollment. We are very grateful to Marc Clotet and Natalia Sánchez who coordinated the JoEmCorono crowd-funding campaign. We thank the Hospital Germans Trias Pujol Institutional Review Board and the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices for their prompt action for consideration and approvals to the protocol. Financial support. This work was mainly supported by the crowd-funding campaign JoEmCorono (https://www.yomecorono.com/) with contributions from more than 72 000 citizens and corporations. The study also received financial support from Laboratorios Rubió, Laboratorios Gebro Pharma, Zurich Seguros, SYNLAB Barcelona, and Generalitat de Catalunya. Laboratorios Rubió also contributed to the study with the required doses of hydroxychloroquine (Dolquine®). Foundation Dorneur partly funded lab equipment at Irsi-Caixa.Peer reviewe

Weak prepositions in Tortosan Catalan

In this paper, starting from a brief analysis of weak prepositions in Tortosan. I try to show that the preposition a is the only one appearing in adjunct and indirect object PPs. This forces us to account for the form Can] which this preposition takes in certain contexts: specifically when it is followed by a vowel initial determiner or pronoun. After considering the alternative of accounting for the relation between the preposition a and the form [an] either in terms of prepositional allomorphy or in terms of epenthesis of the coronal nasal, I have chosen the latter option, since it allows us to explain similar processes affecting other prepositions (contra 'against', cap a 'towards' and per a 'for') and the privative prefix a. Optima1 syllabification (CV syllable), which is a preferred but not obligatory condition in Catalan, would be, in its formulation as the Onset Principle, the trigger for this process of consonantic epenthesis, which essentially affects the domain [clitic+word] when the former is a determiner.En aquest article, i a partir d'una anàlisi breu de les preposicions febles del dialecte tortosí, intento demostrar que la preposició a és l'única que apareix en els complements circumstancials i en els indirectes. Això implica explicar la forma [an] que realitza l'esmentada preposició en certs contextos: concretament quan va seguida d'un determinant o d'un pronom començats en vocal. Davant la doble possibilitat d'explicar la relació entre la preposició a i la forma [an]: al·lomorfia preposicional i epèntesi de la vocal nasal, m'he decantat per aquesta segona via, ja que permet d'explicar processos similars que afecten altres preposicions (contra, cap a i per a) i el prefix privatiu a. La sil·labificació òptima (sil.laba CV) -preferent, però no obligatòria en català-, mitjançant l'Onset Principle, seria la causa d'aquest procés d'epèntesi consonàntica, que afecta bàsicament l'àmbit [clític+mot] quant el primer és un determinant

Weak prepositions in Tortosan Catalan

In this paper, starting from a brief analysis of weak prepositions in Tortosan. I try to show that the preposition a is the only one appearing in adjunct and indirect object PPs. This forces us to account for the form Can] which this preposition takes in certain contexts: specifically when it is followed by a vowel initial determiner or pronoun. After considering the alternative of accounting for the relation between the preposition a and the form [an] either in terms of prepositional allomorphy or in terms of epenthesis of the coronal nasal, I have chosen the latter option, since it allows us to explain similar processes affecting other prepositions (contra 'against', cap a 'towards' and per a 'for') and the privative prefix a. Optima1 syllabification (CV syllable), which is a preferred but not obligatory condition in Catalan, would be, in its formulation as the Onset Principle, the trigger for this process of consonantic epenthesis, which essentially affects the domain [clitic+word] when the former is a determiner.En aquest article, i a partir d'una anàlisi breu de les preposicions febles del dialecte tortosí, intento demostrar que la preposició a és l'única que apareix en els complements circumstancials i en els indirectes. Això implica explicar la forma [an] que realitza l'esmentada preposició en certs contextos: concretament quan va seguida d'un determinant o d'un pronom començats en vocal. Davant la doble possibilitat d'explicar la relació entre la preposició a i la forma [an]: al·lomorfia preposicional i epèntesi de la vocal nasal, m'he decantat per aquesta segona via, ja que permet d'explicar processos similars que afecten altres preposicions (contra, cap a i per a) i el prefix privatiu a. La sil·labificació òptima (sil.laba CV) -preferent, però no obligatòria en català-, mitjançant l'Onset Principle, seria la causa d'aquest procés d'epèntesi consonàntica, que afecta bàsicament l'àmbit [clític+mot] quant el primer és un determinant